Christmas Fire Part One
by MoxiesdenLovesShandy
Summary: The story continues after the events in Sidelined, about two months and in December, a new case for the Major Crimes team involves someone from the past, but are they a suspect or an innocent bystander? This is the first real case back for Sharon after being cleared by her doctor.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Here is the nest story picking up around 2 months after the events in _Sidelined_. It's now getting close to Christmas (I know, I usually have my stories stay with the current month but things got a little crazy and _Sidelined_ took a long time). Anyway, hope you enjoy this story.

Chapter 1

The streets of LA seemed different to him after being gone for so long. He had been here once before, but that was a long time ago when his brother still lived here. He had just moved to LA a month ago, wanting to start a life for himself like his brother had. As he walked into the bar, he noticed that it was decorated for Christmas already, it was only the first week of December. There was garland strung with lights around the bar itself and icicle lights hung down from the ceiling. He walked up to the bar stool and waved the bartender over to him.

"What'll it be?" the bartender asked him. "I'll have a Budweiser please," he spoke with a southern accent that he couldn't hide. "You got some ID with you?" the bartender stated as he looked at the young man in front of him. "Yep," the man said and pulled out his wallet, showing him his Georgia Driver's License.

"You here on business?" the bartender asked as he placed the bottle of Budweiser on top of the bar. "Sort of, I guess you could say that," the man shrugged his shoulders as he took a sip from the bottle. The bartender left him to tend to his other patrons. The bar was getting busier as the night went on. The man still sat there on the bar stool, watching everyone around him. He was on his third beer of the night and finished it, leaving the bartender a tip on the bar top and walked out of the bar.

He stepped outside and walked down the street to his apartment that he was renting. It was smaller than his brother's but it served its purpose. He needed a place to rest and think things through. A month ago he had run into someone at the local gym who had asked him if he was new in town. He of course, said yes, and the guy showed him around, introducing him to other people.

"I'd like you to be my errand man, you know, take care of things I need taken care of," the guy informed him after about two weeks of meeting him at the gym. Gun shots coming up ahead of him brought the man back to the present and he stood alongside one of the buildings, not really seeing anything but a body lying on the street.

He ran up to the body and saw that the person was shot, most likely dead, and that's when three squad cars pulled up in front of him and the officers jumped out of the cars and had their guns drawn down on him. "Don't move!" one of them said. "Show me your hands!" another one gave him orders and he complied.

"I didn't do anything," he told them in slurred, southern twang. One of the police officers approached him and placed him in handcuffs. He then did a cursory search on him and found a gun on the inside of his pants. "You didn't do anything, huh?" the police officer stated to him and then placed him in the back of a squad car.

"I want to talk to Brenda Leigh Johnson of the LAPD!" the guy demanded as he sat in the back of the car. The police officers all looked at each other while a few of them were tending to the crime scene. "Who?" one of them asked. "Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, tell her that Grady Reed is asking for her," Grady told them as he sat in the back of the car. "Kid, she no longer works for the LAPD," an older officer informed him as he slumped down in the seat.

Detective Williams was called out to the scene and saw Grady still sitting in the back of the car as he approached the scene. "Is this the kid who's asking for Deputy Chief Johnson?" Williams asked the patrol officer and he nodded. "Is he saying anything else?" Williams added as he took a look around the body, as the medical examiner's office was at the scene as well.

"What types of casings were found at the scene?" he asked another officer. ".45" he answered him. "Huh, and the gun our guy was carrying was?" Williams asked him. "9 millimeter," the officer stated. "Sir, we can arrest him for concealing a firearm," the officer added. "Oh don't worry, we will certainly be doing that, plus I want to know why this kid is asking for a Deputy Chief that no longer is working here," Williams turned around and headed towards the body.

He looked over the dead body lying on the ground as the medical examiner was doing his report. "You got an ID on our victim here?" Williams asked as he knelt down. "John O'Malley, 46 from Los Angeles," the medical examiner stated as he looked up from his report. "O'Malley, as in an assistant DA?" Williams asked and then saw his wallet and ID next to him. Williams shook his head as he stood up.

He pulled out his phone and dialed a number. "Yeah, get me Chief of Police Pope, please," he stated in the phone as he walked back to the patrol car.

Two hours later, the phone was ringing as Andy and Sharon were lying in bed together. "Is that mine or yours?" she asked him as she rubbed her eyes with her hand, trying to wake up. As she moved off of Andy, he let out a groan. She reached over to the night stand and grabbed Andy's phone, handing it to him. "It's Provenza," she whispered and then layed back down on the bed.

Andy took the phone from her and ran his hand over his face as he sat up. "This better be good," he stated on the phone as he answered it. "Well, good morning to you too," Provenza grumbled. Andy stood up and started walking towards the bathroom. "Did we get called out or something, or is this just a friendly wake up call to get you home?" Andy asked as he turned the light on. "Someone shot an assistant DA on the streets outside the Hamilton building tonight," Provenza informed him. "Shit," he mumbled.

Provenza gave Andy all of the information over the phone and he quickly got dressed in a suit. As he stepped out of the bathroom, he saw Sharon sitting on the edge of their bed. "Go back to sleep, honey. I'll let you know more when I get to the scene," he told her, walking back into their closet to grab a tie.

Sharon stood up and met him outside the closet door. "Why don't you tell me what information you have now and then I'll meet you at the office?" she slowly ran her hands up the tie that he had just placed around his neck. Andy chuckled and shook his head. "You are one stubborn lady," he leaned down and kissed her on her lips.

"Hmm, yes but I think that's why you like me," she said as they broke apart. "That's not the only reason," he smiled at her and went back into the bathroom to finish getting himself ready. He thought back to October, when she had gotten shot and the aftermath of that. He was glad that she had been cleared by her doctor and that so far, everything was going well.

She followed him into their bathroom and watched him finish getting ready. "So, a body was found outside the Hamilton building downtown, the man was shot to death, apparently he was an assistant DA, and there's a possible suspect in custody right now," Andy informed her, turning around to look at her when he mentioned the job of their victim.

"Assistant DA? Was Andrea notified?" Sharon asked, wondering what had happened. "Uh, as far as I know, the DA's office has not been notified," he told her as he placed his suit jacket on and walked past her. She stood in the door frame with her arms around her body, wearing one of Andy's dress shirts that she had quickly pulled on while he spoke to Provenza on the phone.

Sharon then made her way to their closet and started to gather some clothes for herself. "Why didn't you tell me this as you were getting dressed?" she told him as he looked over to her direction. "If an Assistant DA was murdered, I think the Commander of Major Crimes needs to be at the scene as well," she quickly walked into the bathroom to get herself dressed.

Andy huffed as he ran his hand over his face. "I'll go make us some coffee," he called out to her as she got dressed and walked out into the hallway. He stopped in front of Matthew's door and opened it slightly to see the boy was still sleeping. Moxie was as well and Andy closed the door. He made his way downstairs and went into the kitchen, quickly making coffee for the both of them.

Sharon stepped out of the bathroom, dressed in a black suit and white blouse to match Andy's tie, and gathered her items. She then stepped out into the hallway and made her way to the guest bedroom. Emily had been staying with them since she got her job with the LA Ballet and Dance Company a month ago.

She had flown back to New York City a week after Sharon had been cleared to return to work and settled her apartment and belongings there. She had moved back to LA and was searching for an apartment. Sharon opened the door to the guest room and woke Emily up.

"Sweetie?" she shook her shoulder and Emily stirred awake. "Hmm, what is it Mom?" Emily woke up and blinked her eyes a couple of times, trying to focus. "Andy and I got called out, so would it be possible for you to take Matthew to school this morning?" Sharon asked her. "Um, yeah that's fine. I have rehearsals at 10:30 this morning so that shouldn't be a problem," Emily rubbed her eyes as she looked at her mother.

"Thank you dear," Sharon bent down to kiss her head and then left her room to join Andy downstairs. She walked into the kitchen and Andy had placed the coffee in their to go mugs. He handed her one and she smiled, taking it from him. They locked up the back door of the house and walked over to the garage.

"Emily is going to take Matthew to school this morning, if we are still at the office with this," Sharon told him as he opened her car door. He nodded and made sure she was sitting before he closed her door and got in on the driver's side. He started the car and glanced at the clock inside. This was not what he had planned at 3:30 in the morning on a Wednesday, two weeks before Christmas.

They arrived at the crime scene, downtown, and made their way over to the patrol officer. "Commander Flynn and Lieutenant Flynn," Andy informed him as he wrote their names down on the log sheet. Sharon walked slightly ahead of Andy, making her way towards Provenza. Provenza turned around when he saw Buzz pointing at him.

"Commander, I didn't expect you to come with Flynn," he told her, meeting her halfway. "Lieutenant, what do we know so far?" she got right to business. "Well, ADA O'Malley's body was discovered outside this building, three patrol cars responded to a shots fired call from an apartment across the street, pulled up in front and found his body, along with a man standing over him," Provenza informed her as they walked towards the body.

"Did anyone notify his family yet?" Sharon asked him. "No, according to what I knew from dealing with him, his parents are deceased and he's an only child, no next of kin," Provenza answered her.

Andy followed them and stopped as he saw Sharon bend down to get a closer look at the body of ADA O'Malley. She covered her mouth with her hand as she looked over the body and stood up, glancing at Andy and then at her team. "You mentioned a man was standing over the body when the patrol cars pulled up," Sharon spoke to Provenza.

"Yes, a young man, in his twenties, he had a 9 millimeter hand gun on him," Provenza informed her. "But it looks like he was shot with something bigger than that," Sharon stated. "They found .45 caliber casings around the body and scene," Provenza stated. "And there were tire tracks on the street, SID is trying to get a make on the tire tread, ma'am," Julio informed her and she nodded. She continued to look around the crime scene.

"Who is Amy interviewing?" she asked. "That was the person who called 911 to report shots fired," Provenza stated. "Gather all the information you can here, I also want to speak to the man they picked up from the scene here," Sharon told him, as she stood there with her hands in her pockets. "Patrol is holding him at the PAB. I was told that he was asking to speak with Deputy Chief Johnson when Detective Williams arrived on the scene," Provenza pointed to where Williams was standing.

Sharon walked over to where Williams was standing leaving Andy and Provenza where they stood. "I thought I told you not to wake her up?" Provenza mumbled. "Kind of hard to do that when you call in the middle of the night and she wakes up and hands you the phone," Andy muttered back to him. "Her first real case back from medical leave, I just wanted her to ease back into things," he added. "She's been back at work for a month now, how much more easing into things do you want?" Provenza asked him and Andy flashed him a look.

"Detective Williams, I understand the young man found at the scene was asking for Brenda Leigh Johnson, is that correct?" Sharon didn't miss a beat asking him. "Um, yes, that's what the patrol officers told me. The guy is on his way to the PAB for your team right now," Detective Williams stated. "Did you recognize this guy?" she asked standing there with her hands in her pockets again. "No, never seen him before," he answered as he pushed off of his car. "If you guys got this under control, I'd like to get back to my wife," he told her as he made his way around his car.

Sharon watched him leave as Andy walked up next to her. "Detective Williams still giving you problems?" he asked her as he placed his hand on her back. "Hmm, only the usual," she sighed. "Kendall is moving the body of ADA O'Malley to the morgue now, did you want to go to the morgue or back to the PAB?" Andy asked her as she turned around to face him. "I really want to know who this person is who was asking for Brenda," she said. Andy nodded. "Okay, I'll let Provenza know that we are heading back to the PAB," Andy told her, gave her a wink, and walked back to where he had left Provenza.

Sharon stood there overlooking the scene in front of her. This was going to be a long case. They needed to figure out what cases ADA O'Malley had been working on, and if his life was threatened by anyone he had prosecuted. She also had to contact Andrea and inform her what had happened. She saw Amy walking towards her.

"Anything interesting from our 911 caller?" Sharon asked Amy. "No ma'am, they just heard shots fired and looked out their window, saw the body and called 911," Amy told her as Sharon watched Andy walk towards them. "Lieutenant Flynn and I are heading back to the Murder Room, I'd like for everyone to meet up there when you all are finished here," she told her. Amy nodded and walked away to join the others.

"So, Provenza said that he's going to meet us at the Murder Room, after the body gets to the morgue. He wants to make sure that Doctor Morales takes this one asap," Andy informed her as they walked back over to their car. "I'm going to have to notify Andrea about this," Sharon sighed as she sat inside their car. "Yeah, that's going to be a hard one," he didn't envy that she wanted to be the one to tell her, but knew that he would be right with her when she did. He closed her car door and walked over to the driver's side and slid into the driver's seat.

"I'll be right there with you when you tell her," he offered, knowing that she would appreciate that. "Hmm, thank you," she looked over at him as he started the car and then grabbed his right hand in hers and held it as they drove to the PAB.

"You sure you're up for this case?" Andy asked her as he drove down the street. "What do you mean?" she asked him. "Uh, well, this is our first case since you've been cleared medically," Andy said quietly. "Andy, I have been back at work for over a month now, I'm fine," she smiled, knowing that he was still worried about her.

"I know that," he said as he turned the car down another street. "But," she muttered and Andy glanced at her. "But, as your husband, I worry about the people I love," he told her. "And as my Lieutenant?" she asked, giving a small smile to him. "As your Lieutenant, I can advise you on not to push yourself too much," he answered her and then pulled the car into the parking garage.

He parked the car and got out, walking over to Sharon's side and opening her door. He handed her his hand and she took it, stepping out of the car. "Who would be asking about Brenda?" she wondered, asking him as he closed the car door. "Well, whoever it is, they don't know that she hasn't worked here for six and a half years," Andy said as they walked towards the elevators.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 2

Grady Reed sat in a holding cell as he waited to talk to the police. He looked around the room he was in and he wasn't alone. There were two guys he was certain of that were drunk, sleeping it off, and another big guy, with muscles ripped on his arms that looked like he could bench press cars if he wanted to. Grady thought about the mess that he found himself in as he sat there. "I'll just speak to Brenda and everything will work out ok," he whispered to himself as he sat on the bench.

Meanwhile, Andy and Sharon walked into the Murder Room and both headed for their desks. Andy threw his car keys in his desk drawer while Sharon walked into her office and turned on her lights. She hated to call Andrea this early in the morning, but it was the right thing to do. She didn't want her to hear it from someone else. Andy walked through her office door and sat down across from Sharon. She picked up her phone and dialed Andrea's number and waited for her friend to pick up her phone.

"Hello?" Andrea answered her phone as she fumbled for it in the dark. "Andrea, I'm sorry to wake you at this hour," Sharon started to say as she took a deep breath. "What is it?" Andrea asked as she looked at the caller id to see where Sharon was calling her from. She turned on her lamp on her nightstand and saw it was her work number. "We were called out this morning to a crime scene and found ADA O'Malley had been shot and killed," Sharon informed her and Andrea was silent.

"What?" Andrea said in disbelief as she got out of her bed and started walking towards her bathroom. "I'm sorry to be the one to notify you of this," Sharon stated but was cut off by Andrea speaking again. "I'll be right down there, let me get dressed," Andrea told her and then hung up her phone. Sharon looked at Andy as she hung up her office phone. "Andrea will be here shortly," she told him and he nodded.

He reached across her desk and grabbed her hand, squeezing it gently as he locked eyes with her. Their moment was interrupted by the rest of the team coming back from the crime scene. Both Sharon and Andy stood up together and walked out of her office to join them as they started to gather around the Murder Board.

"I just notified ADA Hobbs and she will be meeting us shortly here. Maybe then we will be able to see what types of cases ADA O'Malley was currently working on," Sharon informed the team and they acknowledged. Amy was putting up pictures of the crime scene on the board that Buzz had taken and printed already. "Julio, do you think this might have been gang related?" Sharon called out as she examined the pictures of the scenes.

"Um, it doesn't look like it ma'am, but I will check with my contacts in Gang Intel to see if there was any chatter between gang members," Julio stated as he swiveled his chair around to face his desk. Sharon took a deep breath. She didn't want to jump to any conclusions right away, but she had to be absolutely sure that this was not a threat to the DA's office in general. She didn't want to alarm Andrea or Rusty for that matter either.

Provenza walked in to join them a couple of minutes later. "I was just down at the morgue, Doctor Morales met me down there and he stated to give him a couple of hours before he has his report," he huffed as he sat down in his chair. "Good, Lieutenant," Sharon answered and then turned around to see Andrea walk into the Murder Room.

She walked over to her, giving a wave with her hand behind her back for Amy to cover up the photos as she didn't want that to be the first thing Andrea saw as she entered. "Andrea, why don't you step inside my office for a bit," Sharon said as she guided her into her office. She gave a nod to Andy and he followed them inside, shutting the door behind them.

"Could this have been a random shooting?" Andrea started right away as she sat down in front of Sharon's desk. Sharon glanced over at Andy as she made her way to her desk chair and sat down. "We're not sure right now. There's a witness that called 911 after hearing shots fired but they didn't see anything else," Sharon stated as Andrea looked at her.

Andy cleared his throat before he spoke. "We do have a person of interest in our custody, but he's claiming he didn't shoot ADA O'Malley," he said to Andrea. She turned around to look at Andy and then looked back at Sharon. "Well, where is this person? Why haven't you spoken to them yet?" Andrea demanded as she sat there.

"We'll get to him soon. I wanted to speak to you first beforehand because I want to know what cases ADA O'Malley was currently working on," Sharon informed her friend. Andrea sat there for a minute thinking about recent cases that the District Attorney's office was working on. "Was O'Malley involved in any gang related cases recently?" Sharon asked her.

Andrea shook her head. "I don't really know. I'd have to go into the office and look into his files," she quietly said. "Do you think this is a hit on the DA's office?" she looked up at Sharon. "Right now we don't know for sure," Andy spoke. "Andrea, we are going to assign you two officers to go with you," Sharon informed her and Andrea started to protest. "Just as a precaution, please," Sharon added.

Andrea looked at both of them before she agreed. "Thank you," Sharon said quietly. Andy nodded to the two patrol officers that were standing in the Murder Room and they walked over to Sharon's office, opening the door. "Andrea this is Officer Willis and Officer Raines," Andy stated as the two officers nodded at Andrea.

"Nice to meet you," Andrea gave a small smile to them as they entered. She was appreciative that Sharon was concerned about her. As the two officers walked in, Andrea noticed how young and handsome they both looked. Both seemed to be in good, physical shape too , she noticed, trying not to blush.

"Officers please take Andrea to her office at the DA's building and stay with her," Sharon informed them. "Don't worry ma'am, we got your back," Officer Willis told Andrea. Andrea gave an 'oh my god' look to Sharon before she left her office with her escorts. "I'll look into his cases and let you know what I find," Andrea stated to Sharon before she left.

Sharon turned to Andy who was still in her office and let out a long sigh. "Do we need to assign a detail to all who work in the DA's office?" Andy asked her, knowing she was concerned about Rusty. Sharon glanced at the clock in her office. It was now closer to 5am. "I'm hoping we can get a few leads before we have to do that," Sharon answered him as she moved across her office towards him.

"He's not going to like that if he sees another detail assigned to him," Andy reached out and grabbed her hand as they stood there. Sharon nodded and the two of them exited her office and rejoined the rest of the team by the Murder Board.

"Julio, please call down to holding and bring up our person of interest," Sharon informed him and he picked up his desk phone and dialed a number. "Buzz, please get the interview room ready for our guest," Sharon turned to Buzz and he left to go into Electronics. "Mike, we need to know what type of gun fired those casings," she told him. Mike stood up from his desk and grabbed the small baggie. "I'll go see if Firearm Francine is in," he said to Sharon. "Thank you," she replied.

"They're bringing him up now, ma'am," Julio turned around in his chair. "Good, join me in the interview room please," she told Julio and he quickly glanced at the two Lieutenants before standing up and walking with Sharon.

Both Provenza and Andy looked at each other before joining Buzz in Electronics. "I'm curious to see who'd be asking for Deputy Chief Johnson," Provenza sat down next to Buzz as he looked at the monitors. Andy followed him and leaned up against the table behind the two.

Amy walked in a few minutes later. "They just brought the guy up, looks like a young kid," Amy stated as she stood behind Buzz, facing the monitors. "Oh geeze," Andy huffed as he saw Grady Reed walk into the interview room, assisted by two officers. "You recognize him Flynn?" Provenza looked at the kid as he sat down. "Yeah, that kid broke my hand running from us, remember?" Andy stated. Provenza thought about it for a second as Sharon started the interview.

"Hello, I'm Commander Sharon Flynn, this is Detective Sanchez," Sharon greeted Grady Reed as he sat across from them. "What's your name?" she asked him. "Grady Reed," he stated to her.

"Grady Reed, now where have I heard that name?" Provenza asked out loud. "We had to get his brother from Atlanta, remember?" Andy said. "Oh yeah, how could I forget that trip. You were miserable as always Flynn!" Provenza grumbled as they watched the interview. Andy just glared at him. "Why were you miserable back then?" Provenza asked him. Andy shook his head.

"Well Grady Reed, where exactly were you last night?" Sharon asked him but he didn't answer. "I'd like to speak with Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson please," Grady stated to them. Sharon glanced at Julio before she spoke again. "Do you know Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson, Grady?" Sharon asked him. "Yes, she helped my brother out and I'm sure if I could just talk to her and explain what happened, I'm sure she would see all of this was a misunderstanding," Grady eagerly stated.

"She also knows where my brother is and I just wanted to see her and ask her if she can get ahold of him somehow because I know he's undercover with the FBI," Grady rambled on before Sharon could interrupt him. "Well, Grady, why don't you tell us what happened and I'm sure I can see if Deputy Chief Johnson is available this early in the morning," Sharon told him. Grady hesitated at first before he started to talk.

"Why would she say that?" Provenza wondered out loud as they watched the interview through the monitor. "She wants the guy to talk," Andy mumbled as he watched his wife conduct the interview. She didn't know Grady's background like him and Provenza did and at some point, he was going to have to interrupt the interview in order to let her know more information.

"I was at this bar, having a few drinks, and then I left to walk back to my apartment. I was walking down the street when I saw someone get shot. I hid behind a wall until a car left in a hurry. I ran over to the person who was shot and tried to see if they needed help but they were dead already and then the cops pulled up and sat me in the back of a squad car," Grady told his story.

"Do you own a gun, Grady?" Julio asked him and Grady looked back at him. "It doesn't belong to me, I was given it when I started my job," Grady answered. "What's your job?" Sharon asked him. Grady lowered his head. "I run errands for this guy I met maybe a month ago," he said.

"Look, I came back to LA to find my brother. Brenda told me a while ago that he was working undercover and I miss him, I just want to talk to him," Grady said in a determined voice. "Grady, I'll see if I can locate your brother, but you need to give us more information," Sharon told him as she could tell he was getting scared and antsy sitting across from her.

Grady turned his head and looked at the wall for a few seconds before turning to look at Sharon and Julio again. Sharon waited before she spoke again. "Why did you have this gun on you?" Sharon asked him as she held up the empty, secured gun in the evidence bag. Grady just looked at her. "I told you, that gun was given to me!" he said and didn't say anything else.

"We need to pull her out now and tell her about Grady's brother before this gets out of hand," Andy said as he moved off of the table and towards the door. "Why? Where's his brother?" Amy asked the Lieutenants as they both moved towards the door. "He's dead," Provenza solemnly stated to Amy and then followed Andy out into the hallway.

"Fine Grady. If you are refusing to cooperate, I can hold you for concealable carry, which is a crime here in LA, and you will be charged for that," Sharon said to the point as she started to get up out of her chair. She was hoping Grady would bite on that but he continued to sit there, not saying anything. Sharon looked at Julio and then walked out of the room.

As she stepped into the hallway, she saw Andy and Provenza standing in front of her just outside Electronics. "This man does and doesn't want to cooperate," she started to tell them as she rubbed her forehead with her hand. "Yeah, well, we need to tell you something," Andy stated as he watched her react to those words.

Sharon shook her head. "That doesn't sound promising," she gestured for them to go into her office and Andy moved to the side, allowing Sharon to walk in front of them. He closed her office door after they stepped inside and Sharon turned around to face them both. "Okay, Lieutenants, what is it that you need to tell me?" Sharon asked.

"Grady Reed's brother is dead," Provenza informed her and Sharon gave a quizzical look to both of them. "How do we know that?" Sharon asked as she turned around and sat at her desk. "He was killed outside a bank in the middle of a bank robbery," Andy told her as he stood there and watched her. "How long ago did that happen?" Sharon wondered.

"Remember when I called you and said I was in Arizona with Provenza on a road trip with the Chief and Howard, and her parents?" Andy refreshed her memory from that year. "You said you were transporting back a fugitive then," Sharon folded her arms in front of her as she looked at both of them standing in front of her desk.

"We were transporting Grady Reed's brother, Wesley Reed, back from Atlanta," Provenza told her. Sharon looked like she was pissed, betrayed, and shocked all at the same time as she looked at Andy. "We should have been able to fly back with him from Atlanta to LAX but the creep decided to say he had a bomb with him because he didn't like to fly, thus placing all of us on the no-fly list," Andy tried explaining to her.

"Which is why you all drove back in Brenda's parent's RV," Sharon stated. "Correct, Commander," Provenza answered her and then slowly glanced over at Andy. "How did Wesley get killed?" Sharon inquired. "He was supposed to cooperate with us, but Robbery/Homicide lost the tracker device they had placed on him, and he showed up at the bank that was going to be robbed by the group he belonged to," Andy explained.

"And he was shot, by one of us?" Sharon asked. "No, otherwise you would have known about that," Provenza told her as he gestured towards her. Sharon nodded in agreement. "He was killed by an armored car guard who thought that Wesley was part of the guys who were robbing the armored car," Andy briefly told her.

"Grady was here in LA at the time this all happened," Andy furthermore stated as he took a seat in front of Sharon's desk. "Didn't you hurt your hand around that time as well?" Sharon asked as she started to write something down on a note pad. "The little punk broke my hand when we staked out his brother's apartment," Andy remembered.

"As I recall, it wasn't broken, just slightly bruised," Sharon gave him a glance and Provenza noticed and cleared his throat. "Anyways Commander, about finding Grady's brother, well that's just impossible," Provenza stated and Sharon rubbed her right eye. "If Grady was around this time like you both say he was, then how come he doesn't know about his brother?" Sharon asked them.

"Because the Chief, at that time decided it was easier for Grady if he didn't know the type of person his brother was, so she played him out to be a nice guy and told Grady that his brother got an undercover job," Andy told her and Sharon shook her head slightly.

"I don't think he wants to talk to Brenda like he's saying he does," Provenza said. "And why is that, Lieutenant?" Sharon wondered. "Well, it's kind of like a get out of jail free card, he got in trouble, he knew Brenda helped his brother, so he mentions her name when he gets arrested," Provenza gave his answer but Sharon wasn't too sure about that.

"Where did Grady go?" Sharon asked and both Andy and Provenza gave her a look. "He said that he had returned to LA, so where was he? When his brother was killed, where was Grady?" Sharon clarified. "Um, the Chief's parents took him in and drove him back to Atlanta with them after the holidays," Andy told her.

"Alright, we need to figure out why ADA O'Malley was shot and killed this morning, that takes priority for now," Sharon told them as she stood up from her desk. "What about Grady? What do you want us to do with him, Sharon?" Andy asked her as he stood up. "Hold him for an unlawful concealable weapon's charge, we will get back to him," Sharon told him and started to pick up her desk phone.

Andy nodded and walked out of her office with Provenza behind him. Andy opened the door to the interview room where Grady was still sitting. "Sirs," Julio stood up and acknowledged the two Lieutenants. "Okay Grady, stand up!" Andy told Grady as he motioned with his hand for him to get up. "What's going on?" Grady asked as he stood up. Andy grabbed his arm and placed him so that he was facing the wall.

"You're going down to holding right now as we have a murder to solve," Provenza informed him as Andy started to place his handcuffs on Grady. "Wait! Wait a minute here!" Grady pleaded with them. Andy stopped as he placed one handcuff on Grady's right hand. "Look, I'll tell you whatever you want. You want to know about the person who I work for, I'll tell you what I know," Grady stated.

Andy turned around to glance at Provenza and he nodded. "Okay Grady, go ahead and tell us," Provenza said as Andy turned Grady around and sat him down on the chair. He removed the one cuff that he had placed on Grady's hand. Grady started to rub his right hand. "That was a little too tight!" he stated. "Too bad," Andy mumbled and leaned up against the wall.

"Detective Sanchez, please tell the Commander that Grady has changed his mind," Provenza told Julio and he nodded and left the room.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Happy Shandy Sunday everyone! Thank you for the reviews. Here is the next chapter...

Chapter 3

Sharon had hung up from her desk phone after calling Chief Howard and had just pulled her cellphone out to call Emily and see if she was awake yet, when there was a knock on her office door. She placed the phone down on her desk. "Yes," she called out, wondering who was behind the door. "Sorry to bother you ma'am, but Lieutenant Provenza wanted me to let you know that Grady changed his mind and is willing to talk now," Julio informed her.

Sharon took a deep breath before standing up from her desk. She grabbed her phone and placed it in her pocket. "Thank you Julio," she said as she walked past him and headed back towards the interview room.

As she opened the door, she saw Grady sitting where she had left him and Andy was leaned up against the wall with his arms folded in front of him. She went to the empty seat next to Provenza and sat down. "My Lieutenants tell me you are willing to talk now, Grady," Sharon said to him.

"Yeah, I am ma'am," Grady said and Sharon noticed the change in his tone and attitude. She wondered what had exactly happened in this room before she came in but put that in the back of her mind. They had a case to solve and they needed to solve it quickly.

Meanwhile, back home at the Flynn household, Matthew had woken up to Moxie licking his face. He giggled as he tried to move the dog off of him. "Come on Moxie!" he cried out in a fit full of laughter. Moxie got off of him and laid down next to him on the bed. Matthew rubbed his eyes and looked at the clock on the wall. It was a little after 6 in the morning. He stretched his arms over his head and then began to sit up.

Matthew stood up from his bed and went into his closet to pull out his uniform for school. He opened his bedroom door and saw that the hallway was still dark. He shrugged his shoulders as he flipped on the hallway switch and the lights came on. Moxie followed him to the bathroom in the hallway where he got himself dressed for school.

Emily's alarm had woke her at 6:15 and she rolled over to turn it off. She saw that the hallway light was on as it was shining below her door. "Matthew must be up," she said to herself as she got out of bed. She opened her door and stepped into the hallway. She knocked on the bathroom door and Matthew opened it. He was brushing his teeth.

"Hey little brother, I just wanted to tell you that I'm taking you to school this morning," Emily told him. Matthew spit out his toothpaste. "Where's Mom and Dad?" he asked her as he wiped his mouth with a towel. "They were called out to a murder scene this morning," Emily told him as he gathered his pajamas.

He walked past her and towards his bedroom, Moxie following him. "Can we have pancakes?" Matthew looked over his shoulder at Emily and she nodded yes. Matthew smiled and then stepped back into his bedroom. She shook her head and got herself ready to prepare breakfast and to drive Matthew to school.

Back in the Murder Room, Julio hung up his desk phone and turned in his chair as Mike came back from being down at Forensics. "So, how's Francine?" Julio asked him as he walked to his desk. "She wasn't there, that's what took me so long," Mike answered him as he placed the evidence bag on his desk. "I had to get one of the techs to look at the bullets," he added as he turned on his computer.

Mike turned to face Julio in his chair while his computer booted up. "So what did I miss so far?" Mike asked him. "Well, the guy who was at the scene and kept dropping the Chief's name. Turns out it's Grady Reed," Julio told him. "Grady Reed, why does that name sound familiar?" Mike wondered as he turned to face his computer.

"You remember that guy who worked for the armored car company and was involved in the different heists?" Julio tried to refresh Mike's memory. Mike thought about it and then slowly nodded his head. "Yes, didn't he have a brother that the Chief was really fond of?" Mike said as he logged into his computer. "That's who is in the interview room right now with the Commander and the two Lieutenants," Julio told him.

"So Grady, you want us to believe that you came to LA about a month ago, and some guy approaches you in the gym as asks if you need a job?" Provenza asked Grady as he sat across from him. "Yeah, that's right," Grady answered. "And what is it exactly you do for him again?" Andy asked him as Sharon watched Grady. She noticed that Grady kept fidgeting with his hands whenever he was asked a question related to his job, and relaxed when the question didn't.

"I run errands," Grady answered and slouched in his chair. "What type of errands?" Sharon asked him but before he could answer her, there was a knock on the door. The door opened and Julio was standing on the other side. "Sorry to interrupt Commander, but I received some intel that I thought you might want to hear," he informed Sharon.

"Grady, as much as I have enjoyed this conversation with you, I'm afraid that you're going to have to wait a little longer," Sharon stood up and nodded for Andy and Provenza to follow her out. "Wait a minute! I know you guys helped my brother out, now why can't you help me?" Grady shouted out to them as they left the room.

Sharon turned around to face Grady. "I am trying to help you Grady, but I need you to be patient," Sharon told him and he calmed down and nodded his head. Sharon whispered something to the patrol officers outside the room. "Are you going to have him wait in there?" Provenza asked her as they made their way out to the Murder Room.

"No, he's going down to holding while we figure out this case. I don't believe Grady was involved in the shooting of ADA O'Malley," Sharon turned to Provenza as they walked. "And with a weapons charge, we can hold him for 36 hours," Andy stated as they joined the rest of the group.

"Okay Julio, what do we have," Sharon said as they all stood around the Murder Board. "My friends down in Gang Intel called back to let me know there had been significant chatter among two gang rivalries recently and they both were talking about joining forces on one event," Julio informed the group. "Why didn't the gang units move in and stop it then?" Buzz asked as he stood in the back of the group.

"Because, there wasn't enough evidence to know exactly what these two gangs were chatting about," Andy answered Buzz and then Julio continued. "These two particular gangs that were involved in the chatting do not have UC's with them. The LAPD has tried but they can't get a successful UC to infiltrate them," Julio added.

"What are the two groups of gangs, Julio?" Provenza asked him as he went to go sit in his chair. "The Rollin 30's and the 5 Deuce Brims," Julio stated. No one knew what gang those were so the looks that Julio received were that of confusion. "They're both rival gangs and rarely speak to one another on good terms," Julio added.

"Well then wouldn't your friends in Gang Intel know that this chatting was a little odd?" Provenza asked Julio. "Regardless of whether it was odd or not, we have two rival gangs talking to one another about joining forces on one event. Do your friends know what event this is or was?" Sharon asked him. "No ma'am, they didn't say," Julio told her.

Sharon sighed as she rubbed her head. She was hoping they would at least get somewhere with Gang Intel, but they had hit another dead end. Provenza's phone rang and he answered it. "Lieutenant Provenza," he said as he reached across his desk. The rest of the team didn't hear the other end of the conversation but judging by his facial expression, it had to be Doctor Morales.

Provenza hung up his phone and looked towards Sharon. "Doctor Morales is ready for us," he said and she nodded. "Fine, while we are at the Morgue, Amy, I want you to run ADA O'Malley's financials, see if anything stands out there," Sharon informed Amy and she nodded.

"Mike, do we know the type of gun that was used in the shooting?" Sharon turned to him. "Yes, according to Forensics, it was a Smith and Wesson, .40 caliber hand gun," Mike informed her and the rest of the team as he pulled up a picture of the gun type on his computer. "When the bullet was fired out of the chamber, on the Smith and Wesson, it makes a certain mark on the casing, as you see here," Mike started explaining and Provenza rolled his eyes.

"Thank you Mike," Sharon smiled, her way of acknowledging him but politely telling him to stop explaining. "I would like you, Julio, and Buzz to return to the crime scene and try to piece some of the unknowns together for me," Sharon told him. "Sure thing," Mike told her and then quickly logged off his computer.

Sharon, Andy, and Provenza all left the Murder Room and headed towards the elevators. "After we are done here at the Morgue, I'd like to see how Andrea is doing with O'Malley's cases," Sharon informed them.

Back at the Flynn household, Emily was in the kitchen preparing the pancake batter and Matthew fed Moxie his breakfast. "Anything special at school today?" Emily asked when he returned to the kitchen. She was placing the batter on the skillet, one pancake at a time. "Not today but I have a school project that's due next week," Matthew told her as he brought two plates over to the table.

"What kind of project?" she asked him as she flipped the pancakes over. "We are learning about the oceans and I have to make a diorama of an ocean to include plant and wildlife and then write a report on it," Matthew explained as he sat down at the table and waited. "Does Mom or your dad know about this project?" Emily wondered as she moved the pancakes from the skillet to the plate, turning off the stove, and joining Matthew at the table.

Emily took Matthew's silence as her answer to the question she had asked. "When is it due?" she asked him again. "Monday," Matthew mumbled as he ate his pancakes. "That's five days away," Emily said as she ate. "I'll tell them when they pick me up from school today," he pleaded with her not to say anything. "Okay," she agreed and they ate their breakfast.

Back at the Morgue, Sharon, Andy, and Provenza waited outside the exam room after putting their gowns on. The door opened and Doctor Morales peeked his head through the opening. "You can enter now," he told them and Sharon went in first, followed by Andy and Provenza.

Sharon walked in and saw O'Malley laying on the table. "The ADA was shot multiple times at point blank range, which leads me to believe he either knew his killer, or he got really close to someone," Doctor Morales stated as he pointed to the gunshot wounds on O'Malley's chest.

"Got close to them, in what way Doctor?" Sharon asked him. "Here, I'll show you," he said and then moved to the Lieutenants. "Gentlemen, if you could cooperate," he told Andy and Provenza. Andy rolled his eyes but cooperated for Sharon's sake. Provenza just grumbled as Doctor Morales moved him into position.

"Okay, so you have our ADA," he said as he pointed to Provenza, "and our assailant," as he pointed to Andy. Sharon watched as Doctor Morales maneuvered both of them around. "Judging from the entry wounds and the trauma sustained, I would say the killer had to be this close to the ADA," he said as he moved Andy to almost right on top of Provenza.

They were maybe an inch apart from one another. Andy was on Provenza's side holding his finger up to his chest like a pretend gun. "The killer was right handed, holding the gun here, maybe having his arm around the ADA like they were having a close conversation," Doctor Morales added and then turned to Sharon. "They were also taller than the ADA, looking at the angle of entry into the body," as he moved towards Sharon.

"So, if what you are saying is what happened, then," Sharon started to say and Andy finished her sentence. "Then we may not be looking at a gang related shooting," he said as he looked at her. "Thank you Doctor," Sharon said to Morales and they walked out of the room. "You'll get my full report later on today," Doctor Morales reminded her as they left and she nodded her head.

"What do you think?" Andy asked Sharon as they waited for the elevator. "I think we need to figure out who ADA O'Malley had a meeting with last night," she said as she stepped into the open elevator. Her phone alerted her to a text message from Andrea stating that she was on her way back to their office with some files. "Andrea is on her way over to our office," she informed her Lieutenants as the elevator closed.

Meanwhile, at the crime scene, Mike, Julio, and Buzz were going over the place again. "So, if our shooter was here, then O'Malley couldn't have been standing where he was found," Mike stated to them. They took a look around. "Buzz, why don't you see if that building has a surveillance camera," Mike told him. "Sure Lieutenant," Buzz walked across the street to the building that Mike had pointed to.

Across town, Emily called out to Matthew as she was waiting by the back door for him. "Matthew come on! You're going to be late!" she yelled. Matthew ran down the stairs, past Moxie laying down in the kitchen, to where Emily was waiting for him. "Sorry, I had to get my homework and it was upstairs in my room," he huffed as he showed her his folder he had left upstairs.

"Alright, let's go," she smiled and Matthew walked out the back door to the driveway. "So, I get to ride in your new car!" he grinned as he hadn't had a chance to ride in her new car yet. She didn't need a car when she was in New York City, but now that she moved across the country, she definitely needed one here and couldn't keep using her mom's car all the time.

Emily had bought a used Audi convertible a couple of weeks ago. Sharon had told Emily that she would go with her to buy a car and she did. Andy asked the two of them if they wanted him to go with but they both said no, that between the two of them, they could handle any haggling the car dealership gave them. Andy had no doubt about that and let them go.

A couple of hours later, Emily drove up the driveway in her new convertible, with Sharon following behind her in her car. She had gotten a good deal on the car, as it was only a couple of years old, and they were able to finesse the price down. Andy had waited for them in the driveway and smiled when they pulled up.

Matthew got in the passenger side of her car but Emily told him he needed to go sit in the back. "Sorry, but you are not old enough yet to ride in the front seat," she told him. "Oh come on!" Matthew protested but got in the back seat anyways. "Can we at least drive with the top down?" Matthew inquired as he put his seatbelt on.

Emily thought about it, it was December in LA but it wasn't super cold out today. "Yes, we can do that," she smiled as she got behind the wheel, started the car, and pressed the button to put the top down. She then looked behind her, seeing that Matthew was all set and drove him to school.

Back in the Murder Room, Amy was sitting at her desk looking over the financials of ADA O'Malley when Andrea walked back into the office with Rusty behind her along with the two officers Sharon had insisted follow her. Rusty glanced into Sharon's office but didn't see his mom there as he circled around the desks and sat down at the empty desk next to Andy's. He placed the files he was carrying down next to him.

"Where is everyone?" Andrea asked Amy as she glanced around the room as well. "The Commander, Lieutenants Provenza and Flynn went to the Morgue and Lieutenant Tao, Julio, and Buzz went back out to the crime scene," Amy informed her as she stopped what she was doing at her desk. Before Andrea could respond, Sharon, Andy, and Provenza walked back into the Murder Room.

"Andrea, thank you for bringing the files over," Sharon said to her as she walked over towards her office. She then noticed Rusty sitting at the empty desk. "Rusty," Sharon was surprised he was here so early. "Andrea called me this morning and told me about what happened," Rusty said as he stood up and brought the files with him. Sharon gave him a sad smile and then opened the door to her office.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Thanks for the great reviews and reads. I'm going to digress for a moment...… To the "guest reviewer" that said Matthew is old enough to sit in the front seat of a car. Matthew is 10 years old in this story. According to the law in several states, in order to sit in the front seat of the car, the child has to be 12 years old and/or meet a weight requirement. I don't know where you come from but before I published the last chapter, I did my research regarding that. California law might state this: California law requires a child to be 8 years old to ride in the front seat. However, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommends that a child be 13 years old to sit in the front seat . But, since this is my story we will go with the fact that the Flynn's won't allow Matthew to sit in the front seat while he's 10. Also, to the same "guest reviewer" because I believe you are the same person and I think I figured out who you really are (you don't need an account on in order for me to figure out who you are dear), is it really necessary to say I don't know how to write and that I miss basic grammar from first grade? Last time I checked this is writing for fun, not some graded essay paper for school. Everyone else seems to enjoy reading these stories, ever notice how your reviews never get posted or approve by anyone on here?...…. Okay, onward to the next chapter...

Chapter 4

They had been sitting in Sharon's office for a couple of hours now, going over all of the cases that ADA O'Malley had been involved with. Nothing had stood out to them until Andy mentioned something about a recent case. "Hey Hobbs, what was this case about?" Andy asked Andrea as he handed her the case file he was looking through.

Andrea read through it quickly, page by page, and then looked up at Sharon and Andy. "This was a couple of months ago, but I'm pretty sure the guy is serving jail time," she told them. "Hands get extended from jail all the time, you know that, we've seen it happen," Sharon reminded Andrea as she moved her hand between Andy and herself.

"Where is his appointment book?" Sharon asked as she looked around her desk. "Here," Rusty handed her the book and she smiled, showing her gratitude to him. She flipped through the pages to see if O'Malley had written down any meetings with anybody in the past week. "What are you looking for?" Andrea asked her.

"Doctor Morales suggested that O'Malley was shot at close range," Sharon kept looking through the book. "Which means he probably knew his killer," Andy finished as Andrea sat there, still holding the case file he had handed her. "He had a meeting with a T.J. last night," Sharon said as she pointed to the date on the appointment book.

"I don't know who that could be?" Andrea said as she leaned forward and placed the case file on Sharon's desk. "Well, he met with them several times in the past month," Sharon turned the book around and showed Andrea where O'Malley had written in the meetings.

"Could they be a client?" Rusty asked the group as they sat looking over the papers. "Maybe there's a case where a "T.J." is mentioned?" Sharon said as they looked through the case files. "Where's the file I handed you?" Andy asked Andrea and she handed the file to him. He paged through the case but did not see anything mentioning a "T.J.".

"Was he seeing anyone that you know of, Andrea?" Sharon asked her as she sat back in her chair, frustrated that all leads seemed to be dissipating quickly. "He never really talked about seeing anybody or dating," Andrea shook her head no.

Sharon stared at the appointment book on her desk. She then looked up and glanced through the blinds to see if Mike, Julio, and Buzz had returned yet from the crime scene. "Where's his cell phone located right now?" she asked Andy and Provenza. "It should be in the evidence box on Sykes's desk," Provenza told her as he looked out at Amy.

Just then, Mike, Julio, and Buzz walk back into the office. Sharon stood up from her desk and told Andrea and Rusty to stay in her office. She walked out with Andy and Provenza and met up with the rest of the team by the Murder Board.

"Commander, we got some footage from the building across the street. I'm going to go run through it now and see if there's anything interesting during the time of the murder," Buzz told Sharon and she nodded. He walked away with his camera and headed towards Electronics.

"Did you guys find anything else out there?" Sharon asked Mike and Julio. "Our killer couldn't have been standing where the witness said they were, judging by the location on the street," Julio informed her. "And, we found another casing nearby, this was by the sewer grade on the street in front of the building," Mike said as he held up the round casing.

"So there are two weapons?" Andy stated as he looked at the casing Mike found. It was a 9mm. casing which means they possibly had two different shooters. "Before we jump to conclusions here, are we even sure this casing came from last night's shooting? I mean, it could have been lying there for who knows how long!" Provenza quipped as he sat down at his desk.

Mike looked at Provenza and shrugged his shoulders as he sat down at his desk. "Mike, I would like you to look through O'Malley's cell phone," Sharon said as she walked over to Amy's desk and pulled out the cell phone in the evidence bag. She handed it to Mike. "Anything particular I'm looking for, Commander?" he asked her as he took the bag. "Anything related to a T.J., or anything else that stands out," Sharon nodded to Mike and then she turned to face the rest of her team.

"Amy, where are we with O'Malley's financials?" Sharon asked her as she walked back towards her desk. "He didn't have any debt, paid off everything, including all loans he had taken out for law school," Amy informed her as she handed Sharon the financial reports. Sharon looked over them and was amazed that there was no outstanding debt. Everything was paid off. She took a deep breath as she glanced at Andy.

Meanwhile, down at Holding, Grady Reed sat there on the bench and wondered how long they were going to keep him there. He had to go to work and if he didn't show up, his boss was going to be mad at him. He rubbed his forehead with his fingers and shook his head. "I'm in a real mess here," he mumbled to himself.

Just then, he heard some keys jingling and someone walking towards the holding cell he was currently sitting in. "Grady Reed?" an officer called out his name as he stood in front of the cell. "Yes, I'm Grady," he answered as he stood up from the bench. "You have a visitor," the officer told him and Grady nodded. He was hoping that it would be Brenda Leigh Johnson and that he would finally get out of this mess.

He waited by the cell bars and heard someone walking towards them. "Thank you Joe," a man's voice called out as he came closer to the holding cell. "Grady Reed, what are you doing in here?" Chief Howard spoke to him as he stood in front of the holding cell. "And why are you asking for my wife?" he added as the young man stood in front of him.

Grady didn't know how to respond to his question. He thought that when he got arrested by the officers at the scene, he would just say that he knew Brenda and she could get him out of whatever mess he had found himself in, but his plans didn't turn out so good from how they were in his head and now he had to answer to Fritz Howard.

"I, um," he started to say and paused for a moment, scratching his head. "I'm in over my head and I don't know what to do. I was walking home from a bar when someone shot a guy a couple of feet away from me, I went over to see if he was ok and the next thing I know, three cops pull up and start arresting me. I asked them if I could speak to Brenda because I thought she would want to know I was back in town," Grady explained but Chief Howard wasn't buying that explanation.

Chief Howard shook his head at Grady. "First of all, Brenda no longer works for the LAPD," Chief Howard informed Grady. "Yeah, that's what I've been told," Grady muttered as he stood in front of Fritz. "Secondly, if Major Crimes is holding you for questioning, that means that they think you are somehow involved in something, and neither I nor Brenda will interfere with their investigation," Chief Howard explained.

"I understand, sir," Grady stated and dropped his head to look down at the floor. "Do you think, when they are done holding me here, I could find out where my brother is?" he asked Fritz. "Your brother," Chief Howard said and then remembered they never told him what had really happened. "Um, well, once you are done here, we will talk, Grady," Chief Howard huffed as he told him and then walked away from the holding cell.

Chief Howard paused a moment outside of the holding area and pulled out his cell phone. He knew Brenda would be up and at her meeting in Washington D.C. at this hour, but he dialed her number anyway. "Hey Brenda it's me, you won't believe who's back in LA, and he asked for you several times. Give me a call back whenever you can," he left her a message and hung up his phone.

As he started to walk towards the elevators, he was glad that Sharon had given him a call regarding Grady asking for Brenda, but on the other hand, he knew that the result of him asking where his brother is would not end well for him. He knew Brenda should have told him about his brother right there when it had all happened, but she lied to both Grady and Wesley at that time. Her mother had called her out on it after she had found out the truth, but that didn't faze Brenda at all.

Back in the Murder Room, the team was greeted by Assistant Chief Mason as he walked into their office. "Is your Commander in?" Mason asked Provenza as he sat at his desk. "Yes, she's in her office," he sat up and pointed towards Sharon's door, which was closed. Mason quickly glanced around the office, wondering if she was in there speaking with a colleague or someone else, or if she was in there by herself. His hesitation prompted Provenza to respond.

"She's in there by herself," Provenza told him and he nodded, making his way towards her office door, quickly knocking before he entered the room. "Commander," he said as he made his way in. Sharon looked up at Mason as he entered and placed the file folder she was looking at on her desk.

"Chief, what can I do for you?" she asked him in a tired voice. "Well, I'm thinking we need to make a press statement, that way it may help with some of the leads you have that are stalled," Mason suggested and Sharon sat up in her chair.

"I'm not sure if that is a good idea. We don't even know if this was a random murder, or if ADA O'Malley was targeted, or if the District Attorney's office is targeted," Sharon quickly stated as she folded her arms across her chest.

"Has the District Attorney's office received any threats recently?" Mason asked her, knowing one of her reasons for the protest. "We haven't found anything credible to believe that the office is targeted, no," Sharon sighed. "So, tell me what you do have so far," Mason encouraged her to inform him on the latest findings in the case.

"O'Malley met with someone named T.J. last night and a couple of times in the past month or so," she informed him as she showed him O'Malley's appointment book. "We're not sure if those were friendly meetings or business, and I'm having Mike dump O'Malley's phone records right now to see if a T.J. shows up on his phone," Sharon added.

"If we gave a statement to the press, which might bring out whoever this T.J. person is, and then we could find out if it was a friendly meeting or strictly just business," Mason stated to her. She was reluctant to go to the press, but, on the other hand, it might bring forth this T.J. person. "I thought you already had someone of interest in your custody?" Mason asked.

"Yes, well, I don't think that person is involved in the murder of ADA O'Malley, but we are still holding him on a concealable carry charge because I'm not ready to set him loose just yet," Sharon told Mason and he nodded in response.

"So, the press statement then?" Mason asked, not really a question but more like a reminder to her. She thought about it as she sat there at her desk again and nodded her head yes. "Good, what do you want the statement to say besides the standard verbiage?" he asked her.

"Just the simple if anyone has anything to help the investigation; it can be treated anonymously if you choose. We can start there and see where it goes," Sharon came to an agreement with Mason and he left her office and the Murder Room. She stood up from her desk and exited into the Murder Room, walking past Andy's desk as she ran her fingers across his back to get his attention.

"Everyone, Chief Mason is going to put out a press release on O'Malley's murder, maybe it will help bring out any other witnesses from the scene, or our mystery meeting person T.J.," Sharon informed the team as she stood in between the desks.

"And it just might lure the killer out again if this is a hit against the DA's office," Amy stated and Sharon nodded, biting her lower lip as she didn't want to think about Andrea or Rusty in danger again. The team spent the rest of the morning at their desks going over the case files.

Meanwhile, across town, Emily was with her new dance company rehearsing for their Friday night performance of The Nutcracker. She had secured the part of the Clara and Friday was opening night for the company. She had been rehearsing every day for the past three weeks and, even though she had performed in New York countless of times, she was still a little nervous here standing on the stage of the Dolby Theater.

She had hoped that her mom and Andy would be able to attend Friday's night performance after catching a new case this morning. She knew they would try their hardest to see her perform so close to home now. She had also reserved seats for Nicole, Dean, their two boys, Rusty, and Matthew. She smiled at the thought of everyone, except Ricky, being there to see her perform. She thought about her father, and figured she should reach out to him and see if he would also like to attend. However, she thought it would be best to get him a ticket, if he said yes to going, away from her mom and Andy.

At the DA's office back in downtown LA, Andrea sat with Rusty going over one of her current cases. She was prepping for possible trial tomorrow and wanted to go over some case notes. "So how long are those two going to be staying here?" Rusty asked her as he pointed briefly to the two police officers outside of Andrea's office door.

"That was one of the stipulations I had to agree on with your mother," Andrea said to him without looking up from her notes. "Yeah, but I mean, they've been with us the whole morning. You would think by now, there would be some notice of a threat to the DA's office. By having them stand here waiting on us, it's a waste of time," Rusty said.

"Well, your mother doesn't think so, and Andy agreed so I just figure I would go along to appease them, mostly your mom, since you are working with me, that way she knows you are protected too," Andrea told him as she looked up and then went back to reading over her notes. Rusty shook his head at Andrea's last comment and continued writing down his notes.

That afternoon, back in the Murder Room, Chief Mason had released a press statement on the murder of ADA O'Malley and the team had been working at their desks when Buzz stepped out of Electronics and walked over to where Sharon was standing with Provenza and Andy.

"Commander, Lieutenants, sorry to interrupt but you may want to see some of the footage I've been reviewing from the scene," Buzz informed the three of them and they followed Buzz towards the RACR room instead.

As they entered the room, Andy held out a chair for Sharon and then he sat down next to her with Provenza on the other side of Sharon. Buzz pulled up the footage he was speaking about. "So, what you are about to see was about two hours before the shooting occurred," Buzz explained to the three, setting a timeline for them.

All three of them nodded as they turned their attention to the screen in front of them. It was footage from outside of the Hamilton building. "There's a street view which shows the cars passing the building and there's also a view from the front of the building facing the entry doors," Buzz explained as he pulled up both camera views.

They watch as a car pulls up and parks in front of the building. A man steps out of the car and walks around to the other side, opening a door and a woman steps out. The man is holding the hand of the woman and as they turn around, Buzz pauses the video screen. "That's O'Malley," Andy states and Sharon nods her head. "And who is he with?" she asks in wonder.

"What time did it say he had a meeting with T.J. on his calendar?" Andy asked out loud. "8:15," Sharon responded. Everyone looked at the date stamp on the corner of the screen. "So, T.J. is a woman?" Provenza questioned. "Buzz, what is located inside the Hamilton building?" Sharon asked him as she turned around in her chair to face him.

"There's a restaurant on the top floor of the building," Buzz replied as he searched the internet for the information. "Anything else?" Sharon asked. "There's some residences and a couple of stores on the bottom floor of the building," Buzz replied. "So, let's assume that they had dinner there last night," Sharon said to them.

"I'll call the restaurant and see what I can find out about our mystery woman," Andy said. "Buzz, let's see what happens later on," Sharon said and Buzz played the rest of the video. He had fast forward until they saw O'Malley and the woman walk out of the building. The time stamp was two hours before he was shot and killed. "So, they get done with dinner and head back to his car, then why did he return to that building?" Provenza asked.

As they were watching the footage continue to play out, Mike opened the door to the room and stepped inside. "Sorry to interrupt, but I may have something here on O'Malley's phone," Mike stated as he held the phone in his hand. Sharon nodded for him to continue as Buzz paused the video again. "He received a call around midnight from someone with an area code of 323, he answers the phone call, and talks to whoever this is for a total of 3 minutes," Mike explains as he shows Sharon on the phone screen.

"Buzz, fast forward the video to around 12:30ish," Sharon instructed Buzz and he did just that. The video shows a car pull up and O'Malley gets out of the car and is seen walking inside the building by himself. "So who does he meet for roughly an hour?" Provenza asked. "That's the question, Lieutenant," Sharon stated as they watched O'Malley enter the building.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** So sorry for the long delay between postings. It has been a really, crazy, hectic past month for me. I finally had some time in between everything to post this new chapter. I'm not sure when the next update will be, so enjoy this one and I'm hope to update this story again soon! Thank you!

Chapter 5

Sharon and Provenza were still sitting down at the table in the RACR room as Buzz flipped through several different video shots, trying to find one that showed O'Malley inside the building. Andy was on his cell phone in the corner of the room, speaking with the restaurant that is located inside the Hamilton building, to see if O'Malley was there last night like they think he was.

"Yeah, I'm still holding," Andy said and rolled his eyes as he was placed on hold again. "This restaurant is either super busy at 2:20 in the afternoon or they are avoiding me," Andy said out loud to Sharon and Provenza. Before Sharon could answer him, Provenza quickly muttered something. "Who wouldn't avoid you," he grumbled and Sharon gave him a pointed look before glancing over at Andy. Andy just shook his head at Provenza's comment as he stood there on the phone.

Sharon turned her focus onto the screen again as Buzz changed images to the elevators in the building. "This is right before O'Malley pulls up the second time, Commander," Buzz stated and Sharon nodded as she looked at the screen. About five minutes later, they see O'Malley walking towards the elevators and pressing the up button, the elevator doors open, and he steps inside.

"Anyway of knowing what button he pressed when he was inside?" Sharon asked Buzz. "No ma'am, the elevators in this building do not have video feed," Buzz informed her. She leaned forward, muttering a swear word under her breath. Provenza heard her and gave her a look but that didn't faze Sharon at all.

"Thank you, could you fax a copy of that over please?" Andy said on the phone. "Yeah, the number is 213-353-0319," he told them and then hung up his phone. "Okay, the restaurant is faxing over the reservation list that has O'Malley's name on it for last night. And I also confirmed with the restaurant that he was there with a woman for dinner," Andy said as he sat back down next to Sharon.

"Good, so now that we know what he was doing there earlier, we still need to figure out who called him and why he came back to the building," Sharon stated. "Buzz, can't you just go through the video of the floors and see where he pops up?" Provenza asked. "The building has over 100 floors, sir," Buzz told him and Provenza shrugged his shoulders.

Sharon smiled as she turned around in her chair to look at Andy. "I got something!" Mike called out from the other side of the room where he was sitting with his electronic media device and O'Malley's phone. "What is it Mike?" Sharon asked as she turned her focus over to him. Andy sighed as he watched his wife.

"The phone number that called O'Malley around midnight, it goes back to a cell phone that was purchased a month ago with a bunch of other cell phones for a business called Ronald Dawson and Sons," Mike explained to Sharon and everyone else sitting in the room. "A burner phone?" Sharon asked him.

"I don't think it's a burner phone, Commander. But, with a purchase like the one that was made, it's more likely to be a business purchase," Mike informed her. "A business purchase, about a month ago," Sharon repeated to herself as she thought about what Mike just said.

"Did Grady have a cell phone on him when he was picked up by the police officers this morning?" she asked them as she turned around in her chair. "Yes, I believe we still have it in an evidence bag up here in our office," Provenza answered her.

"Mike, can you get a list of the phones serial numbers that were purchased together a month ago?" Sharon asked Mike. "Yes, I'll get right on that," Mike answered her and started to leave the room. "I would like you to see if Grady's phone is on that list," Sharon added and Mike nodded in understanding.

"What are you thinking, Sharon?" Andy asked her as she turned around in her chair. "A lot of coincidences in the past month keep coming up, I just want to see if Grady's phone just happens to be in the group that was purchased recently," she told him. "And if it was?" Andy asked further. "Then he needs to really start answering our questions," Sharon said as they sat there.

"Lieutenant Provenza, please find me some information on Ronald Dawson and Sons, I would like to know what type of business they are," Sharon said as she stood up from her chair and moved away from the table where they were sitting. "Yes, Commander," Provenza said as he stood up and walked out of the room.

"Buzz, please continue your search for O'Malley in the video, I will be in my office," she told Buzz. "Yes ma'am," Buzz nodded and watched Sharon walk out of the room with Andy before he returned to the video.

"Is Matthew going to after school care today?" Andy asked Sharon as they walked down the hallway. Sharon suddenly stopped. "Oh no," she said as she looked at him. "What?" he shrugged his shoulders. "I completely forgot that he has a session with Doctor Joe this afternoon, at 5," Sharon sighed. "Hey, it's understandable, this case is proving to be difficult," Andy consoled her. "Yeah, but," Sharon started to say as she shook her head.

Andy saw Sharon trying to work things through in her head. "I'll go pick him up and bring him back here, that way he'll be close for his appointment," he told her as they made their way to her office. "Thank you," she smiled at him and he nodded.

Andy quickly grabbed his suit jacket and started to head for the door. "Where are you going?" Provenza asked him. "To pick up Matthew and bring him back here," Andy told him and then continued towards the elevators.

Twenty minutes later, Andy pulled up to the school's parking lot and parked the car. He quickly got out of the car and walked over to the school's entrance. He stepped inside and saw Matthew sitting on a bench inside the hallway by the entrance. A teacher was with him. "Where were you?" Matthew asked him as he stood up and grabbed his backpack.

"Sorry buddy, we caught a case this morning and it's taking a while to solve it," he told Matthew as he placed his arm around him and nodded to the teacher as they left the building. "How was school?" Andy asked as they got back in the car. "Okay," Matthew answered him as he shut the back door. Matthew started to rub his right ear. Andy saw this as he looked at his rear view mirror.

"Is your ear okay?" he asked Matthew as he turned around to look at him. "I don't know. It hurts sometimes," Matthew told him. Andy turned back around and started the car, making a mental note in his head to tell Sharon about it when they get back.

"Emily got you to school okay this morning?" he asked him. "I got to ride in her new convertible, and she even put the top down, but she wouldn't let me sit in the front seat," Matthew said as he looked out the window. Andy continued to drive them back to the PAB.

"Why can't I sit in front?" Matthew suddenly asked. "Uh, well you have to be 12 years old to sit in the front," Andy told him, even though he knew that he could sit in the front seat now at his age, Sharon had discussed it with him a few months after they had adopted Matthew and they both agreed they didn't want him sitting in the front seat until he was 12. "I'll be 11 in two weeks!" Matthew replied. "Yes, you will," Andy maneuvered the car down another street after turning.

Matthew's birthday was in two weeks, a couple of days after Christmas. Sharon had already done most of the shopping for their kids. Andy wanted to get Matthew something special, just from him, and he already had something in mind.

"Do you have any homework?" Andy asked Matthew as they pulled into the parking spot at the PAB. "I have a project that's due on Monday," Matthew said as he stepped out of the car, and rubbed his ear again. "You sure you're okay?" Andy asked and Matthew nodded yes. "So what kind of project do you have to do?" he asked him as they walked towards the elevators.

"I need to make a diorama for class about the oceans. Do we have any shoe boxes that we're not using?" Matthew asked when they were in the elevator heading up to the ninth floor. "Um, I'm not really sure. I think your mom might have some old shoe boxes she's not using," Andy answered him, thinking about how many shoes Sharon has in their closet.

They exited the elevator, but Matthew stopped just before they got to the office door. "What's wrong?" Andy asked him. "I thought you and Mommy forgot about me today," Matthew muttered. "We didn't forget about you," Andy assured him as he opened the door to the Murder Room. Truth was that he thought Matthew was going to after school care, he didn't know he had an appointment with Doctor Joe until Sharon told him.

Matthew stepped inside the room and saw everyone sitting at their desks. He waved at Provenza. "Hi Uncle Louie," Matthew said as he walked over to where he was sitting. "Hey kid," Provenza grumbled not looking up from the report he was reading. Matthew stood there for a few seconds before turning to Andy. Andy pointed to his desk. "You can have a seat at my desk," Andy said as he glared at Provenza.

Matthew placed his backpack on Andy's desk and sat down in the chair. He glanced through the blinds in Sharon's office and saw her sitting behind her desk on the phone. He decided he would wait until she wasn't busy to say hi to her.

"What are you reading that's so interesting?" Andy stood by Provenza's desk. He peered over to see what Provenza was doing. "Are you kidding me?" he grunted as he saw Provenza was working on a crossword puzzle. "What?" Provenza acted innocent. "The Commander has been on her phone the whole entire time you were gone, so while everyone else was busy doing things, I decided to try and finish my puzzle," he told Andy.

"Weren't you supposed to look up information on Ronald Dawson and Sons?" Andy asked him. Provenza leaned over and handed him a piece of paper. "All this says is that it was incorporated back in 2014 and that it's a cement company," Andy pointed out. "That's all I got," Provenza muttered and went back to his crossword puzzle.

Andy turned around to see Sharon hanging up her phone. "Who was she on the phone with?" he asked Provenza. "How should I know," Provenza muttered and Andy shook his head. He walked towards Sharon's office door but Matthew beat him to it and he opened the door to step inside.

Sharon glanced as Matthew stepped inside her office. "Hi Mom," he said as he walked over to the couch in her office. "Hey, how was school?" she asked him, smiling as he sat down. "Fine," he said as Andy stepped inside her office to join them. "Do you have any old shoe boxes?" Matthew asked her and Sharon scrunched her eyebrows before she replied.

She looked to Andy before turning her attention back at Matthew. "Um, I think so," she said. "Why are you asking me that?" she chuckled wondering of all the things he could have said to her. "I have to make a diorama of the ocean for class," Matthew told her as he fidgeted with his fingers. "Dad said you have a lot of shoes in your closet so I figured you would have a shoe box," Matthew said and trailed off.

"Oh he did?" she looked at Andy and pondered what else he might have said. Andy just smiled and waited. "Matthew, could you go sit at your father's desk while I discuss business with him in here?" Sharon asked the boy and he got up off of the couch and went back to Andy's desk.

"Before we start I just wanted to let you know I think Matthew's ear is bothering him," Andy told her. "Oh?" Sharon said concerned as she looked at Matthew sitting down at Andy's desk. "I asked him about it but he just shrugged it off," Andy said as Sharon rubbed her temple with her right hand.

"So, who were you on the phone with?" Andy asked her, getting back to the case. "Andrea," she said and he nodded as she continued. "I was informing her of what we know so far and asked her if the DA's office had any dealings with Ronald Dawson and Sons. She said she never heard of the company, and I told her that we were leaning towards only O'Malley being the target and not the DA's office," Sharon stated.

Andy nodded knowing that brought some relief to Sharon. Sharon yawned, covering her mouth with her hand. "Sorry," she shook her head, dismissing herself being tired. "Sharon, I think we should call it a day, it was an early start for all of us here, and besides, Provenza's ready to go," Andy said as he glanced outside towards the Murder Room.

"What about Grady? We can't just leave him in holding overnight?" Sharon told him as she stood up from her chair. "Did Mike every find out if Grady's phone is linked with this Dawson group?" Andy asked her. "That's what I want to check. Why don't you take Matthew to his session, and by the time you get back, I'll either have told everyone to go home or we'll still be here," Sharon informed him with a slight smile.

"How is that a compromise?" Andy asked her. "It's not," she simply said as she walked passed him towards her door. Andy stood there wondering if maybe she was pushing it just a little. First real case back from her light duty and she's out the gate running, but when he always came back from light duty, she would always make sure he never pushed himself too far. He sighed and followed behind her.

Andy walked over to Matthew as Sharon made her way over to Mike's desk. "Mike, any luck on Grady's phone?" she asked him. "Yes, I have managed to trace his phone by the serial number back to the batch of phones that were purchased from Ronald Dawson and Sons," Mike informed her as he turned around in his chair and showed her the report.

Sharon looked up and over at Andy. She then turned to Julio. "Detective Sanchez, please go down to holding along with Amy and bring our guest, Grady, back up here for a further chat," Sharon told him as she folded her arms against her chest. "Yes ma'am," Julio answered her and stood up from his desk, along with Amy and they walked out of the room.

"Thank you Mike. Can you check on Buzz and see if he's found anything else?" Sharon asked him and he nodded, getting up from his chair and walked over to the RACR room. Andy was leaned up against his desk watching Matthew do his homework when Sharon walked over to them. "So, Matthew, Daddy's going to take you for your appointment with Doctor Joe," Sharon started to tell him as Doctor Joe walked into the Murder Room.

"Oh good, I'm glad I caught you here, Commander, Lieutenant," Doctor Joe stated as he walked into the room, nodding at Provenza as he walked towards them. Sharon turned around as Doctor Joe approached them. "I was in the building and thought I would check and see if Matthew was with you guys. Hi Matthew," Doctor Joe stated and smiled.

"Hi Doctor Joe," Matthew answered as he shifted in Andy's chair to see him better. "I hope you don't mind but I thought since I was already here, we could have our session in the break room or somewhere quiet," Doctor Joe informed them. "Perfect, Doc," Andy said as he glanced to Sharon.

"Actually, that would really help us a lot. We're still in the middle of this case and I was going to have Andy here take Matthew over to your office," Sharon started to explain. "I'm glad to help," Doctor Joe clasped his hands together.

"Matthew, what do you say we get out of here and maybe check out the break room," Doctor Joe gestured for Matthew to go with him. Sharon watched Matthew and was concerned about him. "Hey, you feeling okay?" she leaned forward and asked him as he sat there. "Yeah, I'm fine Mom," he mumbled as he gathered up his homework that he was starting on. "You can leave that here, buddy," Andy told him and then Matthew stood up and walked with Doctor Joe out of the Murder Room.

Sharon watched the two leave the room and then followed Andy as he walked towards the Murder Board. "I take it Grady is somehow involved in this?" Andy asked Sharon as he pointed to the board. "I think he's working for Ronald Dawson," Sharon answered him quickly. "Perhaps he can shed some light onto that business then," Provenza jumped in the conversation. "Because that's all I could find on them," he added, handing the paper to Sharon.

Sharon looked it over and shook her head. They were getting nowhere fast with this case and she was getting tired of it.

Meanwhile, in the break room, Doctor Joe and Matthew were sitting at one of the tables. "So Matthew, how have things been going since the last time we met?" he asked as he watched the boy fidget in the chair across from him. "I guess okay," Matthew shrugged his shoulders. "Something bothering you?" Doctor Joe inquired.

"I'm not sure," the boy stated and then started to draw circles on the blank piece of paper on the table with the pencil he was holding. "Did something happen at home?" he asked him but Matthew shook his head no. "How about school?" he inquired, knowing Matthew needed an opening in order for him to talk about difficult things.

"About a week ago, my friend Danny moved away," Matthew said as he continued to doodle on the paper. "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Doctor Joe said. "His father's job transferred him to Seattle, so Danny and his sister went with," Matthew explained. "It's hard when someone moves away, especially if it's not under their control," Doctor Joe stated and Matthew just sat there thinking.

"Is that all that's bothering you?" Doctor Joe asked him. Matthew looked at him. "What do you mean?" he asked him. "I mean, are you feeling okay, is anyone bothering you, that sort of stuff," Doctor Joe tried clarifying for him. Matthew rubbed his ear again. "My ear's been bothering me for a couple of days," he told Doctor Joe. "But don't tell my parents!" he pleaded.

"Why don't you want me to tell your parents?" Doctor Joe inquired. "Cause they'll just worry and Mom just got herself better, plus they are busy with this case," Matthew said. "Besides, whatever I say to you, you have to keep confident," he added and Doctor Joe knew he had heard that from Rusty somehow because Rusty had said the same thing to him.

"Matthew, I'm obligated to tell someone that you are injured or hurt, even if you don't want me to," Doctor Joe said to him. Matthew sat there. "So, how long has your ear been hurting you?" he asked. "A couple of weeks, on an off," Matthew mumbled. "Why didn't you tell your Mom or Dad about it?" Doctor Joe asked. "I told you, because Mom just got herself back from being hurt and I didn't want her to worry!" Matthew cried out. "It just comes and goes, and my Dad asked me today if everything was okay, and I told him yes because I don't want him to worry about me since all he worried about for the past couple of months was Mom," he muttered.

"Matthew, I'll make a deal with you. After our session, I will give you the opportunity to tell your Mom or your Dad about your ear hurting you, or I will do so," Doctor Joe explained to the boy. "How is that a deal?" Matthew asked. Doctor Joe just smiled.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 6

Grady once again found himself sitting across from Sharon and Andy in the interview room. "So Grady, why don't you tell us about Ronald Dawson," Sharon said as she folded her hands on the table. "I don't really know him. I mean I never met him. One of his sons approached me asking me if I wanted a job," Grady answered innocently.

"So this guy asks you if you want a job running errands for the company," Andy clarified. "Yes," Grady said as he moved around in the chair. "And those errands include what exactly?" Sharon inquired further. "Mostly bringing paperwork over to the job sites, that sort of thing," Grady said and nodded his head. Sharon leaned back in her chair and looked at Andy.

"So then why would they give you a gun to carry, Grady?" Andy leaned forward. "For protection," Grady answered but they didn't like that reason. "Oh come on Grady! You expect us to believe that load of crap!" Andy shouted back at him. Sharon gave a pointed look to Andy. Andy could feel Sharon's eyes looking at him as he kept on looking at Grady.

"Why do you need protection Grady, if you're just moving paperwork from one job site to another and back to the office?" Sharon calmly asked him. Grady moved his eyes and looked downward, concentrating on the table. Sharon sighed as she glanced at Andy. She couldn't believe she was going to say this but she didn't think they had any other choice.

"Grady," Sharon leaned forward and tapped her finger on the table to get Grady to focus back on her. He looked up at her. "Your brother was killed," she told him. "What?" Grady didn't understand and looked at Sharon and Andy with shock on his face. Andy couldn't believe Sharon said that and he gave her a look as well.

"Your brother was killed, Grady, a while back," she stated again. This time Provenza threw his arms up over his head as he, Amy, and Julio watched the interview from Electronics. "I can't believe she just told him that. She just blurted it out!" Provenza shook his head.

"No, no, no," Grady shook his head as he sat there. "You must be mistaking someone else for my brother," he told them. "We're not," Andy muttered and decided to play along with whatever strategy Sharon was trying to use.

"Look, your brother was undercover when he got shot and killed," he explained further to Grady. Grady sat back in his chair, shock still with him. "Grady?" Sharon called his name a couple of times before Grady looked at her.

"We understand that this is difficult news to take in, but I need you to start cooperating like you said you would," Sharon told him as he sat there. "How, how was he killed?" Grady stuttered. Sharon looked at Andy and she nodded to him to go ahead.

"He was undercover and was helping catch armored car robbers when one of the armored car guards shot him because he thought he was one of the robbers," Andy solemnly told Grady. Grady made a fist with his hand and then relaxed it a few seconds later.

"Will you help me?" Grady asked them which threw them both for a loop. "Will you help me if I tell you about the people I work for?" he asked again. "Yes, Grady, you have our word," Sharon told him and he nodded.

Meanwhile, Provenza reached over and took his phone and dialed Hobbs's number. "Hobbs, we may need the District Attorney's office here soon," he told her over the phone when she answered.

"I don't think they're doing things right," Grady started to tell Sharon and Andy as he sat there in front of them. "What do you mean by that?" Sharon asked and Grady slid further towards the table. "Their numbers don't add up right," Grady said but still answered vaguely.

"Numbers? What kind of numbers?" Sharon asked him to clarify. "Supply numbers mainly. I run paperwork orders for supplies and when I bring them to the site, the guy looks them over and I leave," Grady stated as he drank some water from the bottle on the table.

"What kind of supplies?" Andy asked him. "Construction," Grady quickly answered. Andy was getting tired of his vague answers as he was sure Sharon was as well. "How were they not adding up right?" Sharon asked as she looked directly at Grady.

Grady looked at Sharon and explained. "Some orders asked for so many pallets of lumber, but for the site that the supplies are going to, you don't need all those pallets," Grady said. "How do you know so much about construction?" Sharon asked him.

"When I went back to Atlanta with Brenda's parents, I started working in construction there," he explained to them. "I had quit my job to move here to look for my brother, but now I don't know what I'm going to do," Grady huffed.

"Can you talk more about the numbers not adding up, I need you to be more specific," Sharon told him. Grady thought about what he had seen over the past month. "I saw Ronald Dawson's son hand a bag over to some other guy one time," he told them.

"What's so strange about that?" Andy asked, not knowing what direction Grady was going in by saying that. "It's just odd what that happens at night in a dark alley," Grady said, innocently. "What was in the bag?" Sharon asked him. "Money," Grady said without hesitation. "How do you know?" Sharon asked as she glanced at Andy.

"Because I saw his son put money in the bag and then hand it over to the guy," Grady told them. "What's the son's name?" Andy asked. "Charles, but I call him Charlie for short," Grady muttered. "Do you know who the other guy was, Grady?" Sharon asked him but Grady shook his head no.

Andrea walked into Electronics without her security detail and without Rusty following her. Provenza glanced over as she stood next to him. "Is he giving you any information that you can use?" she asked. "Hard to say," Provenza mumbled as he watched the screen. "Where's your entourage?" he added without looking up at her.

"I ditched them earlier," came her response which made Provenza raise an eyebrow and look at her. "Just kidding Lieutenant," she added. "Sharon called off the detail earlier and Rusty is back at the office doing some research for me," she continued.

"I don't know what kind of deal you are going to make with him, Hobbs," Provenza grumbled as he leaned back in the chair.

Meanwhile, Chief Howard was standing outside the PAB when a car pulled up, and Brenda stepped out of the back seat. He smiles at her as she walked towards him, with her luggage being pulled behind her. "Did you get my message?" he asked her as he kissed her. "I did, that's why I had the driver drop me off here instead of at home," Brenda told him as they started to walk inside the building.

"Why is Grady here? Does my father know he's here?" she asked but Fritz just shook his head as he didn't know the answer to her questions. "All I know is that he is currently being interviewed by Major Crimes and they are investigating the shooting death of an ADA," Fritz told her as they stepped inside the elevator.

"How was your meeting in DC?" he asked her, changing the subject. "Oh, it was fine. Just a bunch of bureaucrats fighting between each other on who's better," Brenda stated as she watched the numbers change. Fritz smirked at her remark as they both stepped off the elevator and headed towards the Murder Room.

Before they entered, Fritz placed a hand on Brenda's shoulder to stop her. She turned around and looked at him. "I just want to remind you that they are not your squad anymore," Fritz reminded her. Brenda rolled her eyes at him. "Of course I know that!" she huffed.

Brenda opened the door and walked in without missing a beat. Fritz followed her into the Murder Room and they both looked around but didn't see anyone at their desks. "Well, where is everyone?" she asked but Fritz shook his head. "Either they all went home or they're busy," he told her as he peeked into Sharon's office and saw her things still at her desk.

He then noticed a kids backpack on Andy's desk. "Come on, I bet you they're over here," he said and then led Brenda towards Electronics. He opened the door and Brenda walked in first. "Chief!" Provenza stated as he watched her walk inside the room. He pushed his chair out and started to get up but Brenda motioned for him to stay put. "No need Lieutenant you can stay seated," she said and then looked at the monitor.

She saw Grady sitting there with Andy and Sharon and she wondered what was going on. "Could you tell me what's going on and why Grady here is a suspect?" she smiled at Provenza and spoke in her southern twang. "Sorry Chief," Provenza cleared his throat. "It's an on-going investigation still," he continued and then looked towards Chief Howard.

"I'm sure your husband filled you in on what he could," Provenza added as he turned to look at the monitor. "Yeah, he did," Brenda muttered. She was hoping a little that one of her former colleagues would have been able to fill her in just a little more. She glanced at Andrea so she knew that they might be close to making a deal, but she didn't say anything about that.

She saw Grady sitting there across from Andy and Sharon. He did not look like the innocent boy she knew all those years ago. Mike barged in and startled Brenda. "Provenza!" he said and then noticed Brenda standing there with Chief Howard. "Oh, hey Chief!" he smiled and then continued moving towards Provenza and handed him some more information that they had newly discovered.

"What am I looking at here, Tao?" Provenza grumbled as he looked over the new information. "Remember how I said that our victim didn't have any financial issues, and that we couldn't find any debt on him?" Mike rambled. "Yes, get on with it!" Provenza nodded his head.

"Well, it turns out our victim wasn't a victim after all," Mike continued. Provenza turned around in his chair, wondering where Mike was going with this information. "He opened an account under his mother's name, where he began depositing large amounts of money," Mike explained as Provenza looked over the information again.

Provenza handed that paper to Andrea and she skimmed over it and sighed. "I need to head back to the office," she stated and handed the paper over to Provenza. "Wait, what about a deal for Grady?" Provenza quipped back at her. "I'll make him a deal tomorrow, after I go through O'Malley's files again," she shook her head as she left the room.

Provenza glanced back down at the paper he was holding again. "Where did he get all this money from, investments?" Provenza asked as he saw the total amount of money that was listed on the account. "Not exactly," Mike said. "Buzz and I were able to trace down where the money originated from, took us a while, but we finally traced it back to guess who?" he added with a smile.

"Who, Mike?" Provenza looked back at him.

Meanwhile, in the break room, Matthew continued to sit across from Doctor Joe. "So, tell me how school is going," Doctor Joe happily asked the boy. "It's going okay," Matthew fiddled with a crayon in his right hand. "Have you been handing in your homework on time?" Doctor Joe poked around a little bit more.

Matthew was about to answer Doctor Joe when he noticed a tiny drop of blood on his paper in front of him. He rubbed his nose with the back of his hand and more blood came out of his nose. "Uh," Matthew said as he looked and his hand and then at Doctor Joe.

"Matthew!" Doctor Joe showed concern in his voice as he reached over and handed him a napkin from the table. Matthew took it and placed it underneath his nose. Doctor Joe added a couple of more napkins and held it to Matthew's nose.

"Do you feel dizzy at all?" he asked the boy as he tried to stop his nose bleed. A nasal no came out from underneath all of the napkins being held to Matthew's face at the moment. Doctor Joe removed some of the napkins and replaced them with new ones.

"Come on, let's go get your parents," he said as he stood up and Matthew joined him, still holding the napkins as he walked down the hallway next to Doctor Joe.

As they stepped back into the Murder Room, Doctor Joe did not see Sharon or Andy. He ushered Matthew to have a seat at Andy's desk where his backpack was laying on top of the desk. "Have a seat, I'm going to get your parents," Doctor Joe told Matthew and Matthew nodded. He sat down and held the napkins up to his face. He could still feel some blood dripping out of his nose.

Doctor Joe walked towards Electronics and ran into Buzz who was also approaching the room. "Buzz, do you know where the Commander and Lieutenant Flynn are?" he asked him. "I believe they are in the interview room," Buzz pointed to the room next door. Doctor Joe sighed because that meant they were interviewing someone.

Buzz saw the concerned look on Doctor Joe's face and then glanced over his shoulder and saw Matthew sitting at Andy's desk, leaning his head back and holding a bunch of napkins to his face. "I'll get the Commander for you," Buzz told him and then knocked quietly on the door to the room. He opened the door slightly and got Sharon's attention.

"Sorry to bother you Commander but we have a situation out here that needs both you and the Lieutenant's attention," Buzz softly spoke to Sharon and Andy. Sharon looked at Andy before standing up and heading out the door.

Brenda watched this unfold on the monitor and saw that as an opportunity to confront Grady. "Where are you going?" Fritz asked her as she walked towards the door. "I'd like to know why Grady was asking for me, that's all. And I thought since Sharon left the room, that would give me the opportunity to ask him myself," Brenda smiled.

"Oh, uh, wait a minute here Chief, you can't do that," Provenza stated to her. "And why not Lieutenant?" she asked him. "Well, because," he thought for a minute. "Because, you're not part of this investigation," he added and moved towards the door to stop her. Mike followed him so that Brenda was no surrounded by Provenza, Mike, and Fritz.

She huffed loudly and folded her arms. "I told you this would happen," Fritz leaned towards her and whispered in her ear. Brenda just scoffed at him and waited.

Sharon saw Doctor Joe's concerned face as she exited the interview room. "Buzz, please," she started to say. "I'll keep an eye on him," he nodded and stood at the doorway to watch Grady as Andy left the room to follow Sharon.

"What's going on?" she asked Doctor Joe as she continued to walk towards him. "Matthew's nose started bleeding during our session," he told her and she quickly walked over to where Matthew was sitting. Andy heard him as well and he picked up his pace, right behind Sharon.

"Sweetie, honey, are you all right?" Sharon approached Matthew and started to gently remove the napkins from his face. "I'm fine Mom," he told her, moving his head to look up at her, Andy, and then Doctor Joe. Andy handed Sharon some clean Kleenex from his desk and she replaced the bloodied napkins with clean ones.

"How did this happen?" she asked them. Doctor Joe looked at Matthew, hoping that this would give the opportunity for the boy to tell his parents about his ear aches. There was a little hesitation from Matthew but he finally told Sharon and Andy what had been going on.

"I've been having ear aches on and off for a couple of weeks now," he mumbled to Sharon as she knelt down in front of him. "Why didn't you tell me or your Dad about this?" Sharon moved his hair to the side of his face. "I didn't want you worrying and you just getting back to work after being sick," Matthew muttered.

Sharon shook her head, concerned for Matthew as she stood up to face Andy. Before she could say anything to him, Andy spoke to her. "Why don't you take Matthew home, clean him up? We'll take care of things here," he told her.

But before she could answer him, the door to Electronics opened up and Brenda walked out of the room, followed by everyone else. "Sharon, there you are!" Brenda said as she walked over to her. "We need to talk," she said and then saw the little boy sitting at Andy's desk. "Oh, I didn't realize, uh, hello," Brenda stammered causing Andy to chuckle.

"Commander, I really need to talk to you," Brenda demanded and threw in Sharon's rank for good measure. "Um, it's really not a good time, you see our son Matthew here has got a nose bleed, and is not feeling good right now," Sharon turned around to face Brenda.

"Uh, Commander, Mike found something interesting you might want to look at," Provenza waved a piece of paper in the background of everything else that seemed to be going on at once. "Hold that thought Lieutenant," Sharon said to him and then looked at Matthew.

"I'm fine Mom, my nose stopped bleeding, see," Matthew tried to show Sharon his Kleenex that didn't have any blood on it. "I'll make it quick," Brenda asked Sharon and she looked at Matthew and then glanced up to meet Andy's eyes.

"I'll watch him," he told her and then watched Sharon reluctantly walk into her office with Brenda behind her. Sharon closed the door to her office and took a deep breath.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 7

"Boy is it strange being in here again," Brenda muttered as she looked around Sharon's office. Sharon stood at her door that she had just closed, wondering why Brenda wanted to speak to her all of a sudden. She waited there with her arms folded across her chest as she watched Brenda turn around.

"I bet you're wondering why I'm here," Brenda smiled quickly as she looked at Sharon. "No, I know why you're here, Chief Howard informed me that he had spoken to you over the phone while you were away," Sharon told her matter of fact. "Well, then, I guess I'll skip the pleasantries," Brenda stated and knew that look from Sharon.

"I'd like to interview Grady and see why he was asking for me when he was arrested," she stated but Sharon shook her head. "No, that's out of the question," she told Brenda as she made her way over to her desk. "I didn't know you and Andy had a son?" Brenda threw that blurb out there. Sharon smiled at her and sat down, gesturing for Brenda to sit on one of the chairs across from her.

"We do," Sharon smirked. "Andy and I adopted him last February," she added and Brenda's face showed surprise. "Well, that's wonderful," Brenda, not knowing what to say. There was silence between the two of them until Brenda spoke again.

"I'd really like to know what's going on with Grady, I mean, my daddy probably doesn't even know he left the Atlanta area," Brenda sounded worried. "Was he living with your father?" Sharon asked her. "Well, not exactly. My daddy told me that Grady moved out on his own a few years back after he got a job with a construction company there," Brenda explained to her.

"Why didn't you tell him about his brother?" Sharon asked her, innocently enough. "I thought at that time that it was best for him not to know what happened. He thought his brother was a hero, and I wanted to keep it that way," Brenda said. Sharon looked at her. "Why? What harm did that do?" Brenda asked her.

Sharon shook her head. "Look, Brenda, I don't have time to go over all the reasons why it was a bad decision not to tell Grady about his brother back then. I have a little boy out there that is sick and I need to attend to him," Sharon looked at her stoically.

Brenda looked out the window and saw Andy talking to Matthew and wiping his nose. "Lieutenant Flynn seems to be doing okay out there with the boy," Brenda muttered again. She was really trying Sharon's patience when her patience was running thin.

"The DA's office is probably going to offer Grady a deal, protection in return for possible testimony," Sharon told her as she stood up from her chair. "If you have any further questions, perhaps you should call and speak to them, or better yet, don't," Sharon reached out to crack her door open.

"Why don't you want to cooperate with me?" Brenda asked her as she stood up and turned around to face Sharon. Sharon let go of the door and spun around. "Me cooperate with you? Wow Brenda, how the times have changed. You have no authority in this room, you're not part of this investigation, so I don't have to cooperate with you," Sharon told her bluntly.

"I'm the Chief of the Los Angeles District Attorney's Department of Investigations!" Brenda put her foot down and threw that title out there to remind Sharon. "Right," Sharon slowly said and thought for a moment before opening her door to Lieutenant Provenza who was standing right outside it.

"Lieutenant?" Sharon sharply said. Provenza glanced at Brenda before addressing Sharon. "Commander, Mike found a link through an account that our victim had set up a year before his demise," Provenza informed her and handed the paper report for her to read.

She read it over quickly and then glanced up at Provenza. "Why didn't we find out about this before when we ran his financials?" she asked him. "Because this account is listed under his mother's name," Provenza pointed out.

"And the money traces back to Ronald Dawson?" she asked Mike as she walked over to where he was standing. "Just his company, that's all I could get," Mike told her. "That's enough for a warrant, but," Sharon said and then addressed the group. "It's been a long day for all of us, I want you to go home, get some rest, and we will pick up tomorrow morning," she added, and folded her hands in front of her as she watched her team pack up their things.

"I'll call down to holding and have them come up for Grady, ma'am," Julio picked up his phone and after speaking to someone, walked over to the interview room and waited with Buzz for them to take Grady back down to holding.

Sharon's eyes then focused on Andy as he was tending to Matthew. Matthew was still holding some Kleenex to his nose and his head was still titled back as he sat in Andy's chair. She didn't notice Chief Howard had walked over to her. "Sorry about Brenda," he told her as he walked past her and headed to where Brenda was standing, just outside her office. She watched the two of them retreat out of the Murder Room and then focused on her two boys.

"Alright, is your nose still bleeding?" she asked Matthew as she walked up next to Andy. Matthew moved the Kleenex away from his mouth. "No, it's clean," he showed her the Kleenex and started to spin himself around on Andy's chair.

Andy stopped him from doing that. "Hang on, buddy. We don't need you dizzy on top of everything else," he chuckled and Matthew sat there. "I'll just grab my things and we can go," Sharon smiled at Andy and ran her hand down his arm. Andy nodded, standing there watching her walk into her office.

"Dad?" Matthew said, breaking the concentration of Andy. "Hmm?" Andy responded, still keeping his eyes on Sharon. "I have to go to the bathroom," he said and stood up from the chair. Andy looked at Matthew and nodded. Sharon met them outside her office.

"He's got to go to the bathroom, so I'll take him and wash his face up, get all that dried blood off him," Andy rested his hand on her shoulder and then joined Matthew as he started to walk into the hallway.

Meanwhile, Brenda and Fritz were in the elevator heading down to the parking garage. "Oh, that woman!" she huffed and her husband shook his head. "Brenda, honey, what were you expecting to happen? That Commander Flynn just let you in on their investigation?" as he stood closer to her and wrapped his arm around her. "Well, no but I thought that she would at least had listened to what I had to say," and stepped out of the elevator. "She changed her name?" Brenda said as she got into Fritz's car.

Back in the office, Sharon glanced around the room and saw that Mike was still sitting at his desk. "Lieutenant I thought I told you to go home?" she said to him. "I was just going to secure the warrant for us so that we have it tomorrow morning," Mike smiled and Sharon nodded. "Sure, but then go home and that's an order," she smiled back at him and then walked out into the hallway and over to where the restrooms were located where she waited outside for Matthew and Andy.

A few seconds later, Andy and Matthew came walking out of the men's room. Sharon noticed that the front of Matthew's shirt was soaked with water. She eyed Andy. "Yeah, well in order to get most of the blood off of him I had to really wet his face and, the water dripped off of his face and onto his shirt," Andy explained as they walked to the elevators, with Matthew walking in front of them.

Sharon sighed as they stepped onto the elevator. "When we get home, I want you to change your shirt. I'm also going to give you something for your ear ache," Sharon told Matthew but he started to protest. "My ears don't hurt me right now," he pleaded with her as the doors opened to the parking garage.

"Fine, if they don't hurt you, then that's fine. But, we are still going to the doctor tomorrow morning," she told him as they walked to Andy's car. Matthew huffed as he carried his backpack. He really didn't like going to the doctor and maybe that was a little bit why he didn't want to let them know that his ears had been bothering him.

Andy unlocked his car from the remote on his key ring and Matthew opened the backdoor and climbed in. Andy grabbed Sharon's hand before she retreated inside the car as well. She stopped and looked at him.

"I'm concerned about you," he barely whispered to her as they stood there. He was being honest with her and she knew it, but dismissed his worried look. "Don't be, I'm fine," Sharon shook her head and patted her free hand against Andy's chest before she sat in the car herself. Andy watched her and once she was settled inside, he closed her door.

Once Andy had joined them in the car, he turned his attention to Matthew as he glanced in the rear-view mirror. "What would you like for dinner," Andy asked everyone as he pulled the car out of the parking spot and through the garage.

"Pizza!" Matthew exclaimed as he looked from the window to the front seat. "How about homemade pizza, we should have all the ingredients," Andy suggested as he turned the corner and waited to turn at the next light.

"That sounds fine to me," Sharon smiled and then returned to looking out the side window, losing herself in the thought of their current case.

The next thing Sharon felt was a hand gently shaking her shoulder. She looked up and saw Andy smiling at her. She then shifted in her seat and noticed that they were inside their garage. "We're home already?" she questioned and Andy nodded yes. She didn't realize she had fallen asleep as Andy drove them home.

She undid her seatbelt and slowly climbed out of the car. She glanced back down towards the back seat but noticed Matthew wasn't there. Andy was standing by her side. Sensing another question from her, he beat her to the answer. "He's inside already," he assured her as they walked out of the garage side door.

Sharon started to stumble but Andy grabbed her hand and steadied her, pulling her into his embrace. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked and she took a deep breath. "I'm fine," she told him as the dizziness went away as soon as Andy pulled her into his arms.

Andy sighed not wanting to get into an argument with her on how he thought she was pushing herself on this case. They walked into their house and Sharon made her way into the kitchen. "Matthew, go change your shirt, please," she told him as she saw him playing with Moxie on the kitchen floor.

Matthew ran towards the stairs and Moxie followed the boy upstairs. Sharon then shifted towards the island in the kitchen and saw today's mail was already on the countertop. She went through the pieces, sorting out the bills from the junk mail.

Andy joined her in the kitchen after loosening his tie and taking his suit jacket off. He washed his hands at the sink and then started to gather the ingredients for their homemade pizza. "Emily must have brought the mail in when she got home," Andy glanced at Sharon as he opened the refrigerator door.

Sharon hummed as she continued to open bill after bill. Andy placed the ingredients on the countertop along with a mixing bowl to make the pizza dough. "Why don't you go upstairs and relax in a nice bath?" he told her as he moved around and wrapped his arms around her waist. She started to relax in his embrace and closed her eyes.

"That does sound wonderful right now," she whispered as he kissed her neck. "What about dinner?" she asked as she turned around in his arms. "I got it, besides, Matthew can help me when he gets back down here," Andy gazed into her eyes. Sharon smiled and Andy reluctantly let go of her and watched her retreat upstairs.

As Sharon was climbing the stairs, Matthew was coming down them. "Your father is in the kitchen, you can help him with making pizza, and have him give you something for your ears!" she called out as she continued to go upstairs.

She decided before taking a bath, she would check in on Emily and see how her day was. She knocked on the bedroom door and heard Emily say "come in". She opened the door and saw Emily sitting on the bed. "Hi, how was your rehearsal today?" Sharon joined her and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Oh, it was good. I think we'll be ready for Friday night," Emily stated and then asked her mother about her day. "Will you be able to attend Friday night's performance?" she asked and Sharon was hesitant with her answer.

"Andy and I will try to do everything we can to get this case wrapped up in time to see you perform," Sharon smiled but Emily knew that all too well growing up. "Oh, and I invited Dad as well, but don't worry, he'll be sitting on the opposite side of where I got your tickets," Emily added and all Sharon could do was smile at her daughter.

"Andy's preparing dinner downstairs and I'm going to relax in a bath for a little bit," Sharon stood up and looked at Emily. "Okay Mom," Emily got back to her laptop and Sharon left her room. Walking across the hall, she saw Moxie laying by their bedroom door. "Were you waiting for me?" she asked the dog as she walked into their bedroom. Moxie followed her inside wagging his tail.

'Great' Sharon thought to herself as she gathered the items for her bath. "Jack," she said out loud and shook her head as she walked from their closet to their bathroom. Moxie watched her as she prepared the bathtub and placed her favorite bubble bath into the tub. She then closed the door slightly and began to remove her clothing. Once she was satisfied with the temperature of the bath, she took off her remaining items and stepped inside, lowering herself into the warm water.

She closed her eyes and let the bubbles relax her as she thought about the day. She opened one eye to see what Moxie was doing and when she saw the dog laying down, watching her, she closed her eye and sighed.

Meanwhile, downstairs in the kitchen, Matthew was helping Andy prepare the pizza dough. "Okay, I want you to mix it now while I get the sauce ready," Andy told him and Matthew took a wooden spoon and tried to mix the dough together.

Andy gathered the ingredients for the homemade sauce and placed them on the countertop next to where Matthew was. He saw Matthew was struggling with the dough in the mixing bowl. "Hey, it might be easier to just use your hands," Andy trailed off as he watched Matthew look up at him.

Matthew went to the sink and washed his hands, Andy doing the same thing and then showed Matthew how to knead the dough. "You take some flour and you spread it out on the wooden board, and then you take about half of the dough and start to flatten it with your hands like this," Andy said as Matthew joined him.

When they were all done, Andy placed the two pizzas they had made on the pizza sheets into the oven. "Why don't you work on that diorama you were telling me about," Andy suggested. "I need a shoebox," Matthew reminded him. "Yes, I'll see if Mom has an empty one in her closet," he snapped his fingers and pointed at Matthew.

Matthew had turned his head to one side, putting his right ear towards the ground. "My ear feels funny when I do this," he told his dad. Andy looked at him. "Does it hurt?" he asked him. "Not really," Matthew replied and moved his head again.

Andy walked over to where Sharon kept all the medication in one of the kitchen cabinets and looked for children's Tylenol. "Oh, Mom wanted me to tell you to give me some medicine," Matthew walked over to where Andy was standing. Andy was reading the directions on the bottle. "Oh yeah? When did she say this?" he continued to read, grabbing a glass of water along with the measuring cup that came with the bottle for Matthew. "When she went upstairs," Matthew said.

Andy looked at him. "That was like a half hour ago!" he stated and poured the medicine into the measuring cup. Matthew shrugged his shoulders not thinking it was a big deal and took the medicine. It tasted like grape flavor, which he liked. He took the glass of water that Andy handed him and washed down all the medicine he swallowed.

Matthew returned to the kitchen table and emptied his backpack on top. "I'll go see about an empty shoebox for you," Andy ruffled Matthew's hair as he past him and walked towards the stairs. He was going to check on Sharon anyway to see how she was doing with her bath.

As he climbed the stairs to go to the second floor, Emily came walking down them. "Hey Andy," she said as she passed him. "Hey, I was just coming up to check on your mom. Dinner should be ready in a half hour," he told her and continued to move up the stairs.

Andy stepped into their room and saw that the bathroom door was slightly ajar. He knocked and moved the door open a little more so he could slip inside. He saw Sharon relaxing in their tub and bent down next to her. Her eyes were closed and she opened them as soon as she felt his hand brush away a strand of her hair. "Hi," she smiled. "Hi," he smiled back at her.

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

 **A/N:** Here is the next chapter. To all the #Flynngirls the past couple of days, I had a blast and it was a lot of fun. Here's to getting Andy Flynn into third place in the Character Cup!

Chapter 8

"Pizza's in the oven," she heard him say in between giving her small kisses behind her ear. She moved her hand up to meet his arm which caused more water to slosh out of the tub. "Did you give Matthew some medicine?" she turned her head into his kiss and captured his lips. "Yes," he breathlessly said as they pulled apart.

Andy stood up and looked down at his pants which were now soaked but he didn't mind. Sharon saw that she had gotten water on his clothes. "Sorry," she told him. "Don't worry about it sweetheart," he winked at her and walked out of the bathroom towards their closet. He searched the area for an empty shoebox and found one. He decided to change his clothes right there since he was already soaked from the water.

A couple of minutes later, Andy rejoined Sharon in the bathroom. She was still in the tub and glanced over at him as he stepped into the room again. She noticed that he had changed his clothes and that he was also holding one of her shoeboxes. "So, would this one be okay to give Matthew?" he asked her, and she quickly glanced at it, being reminded that he needed one for his project at school. "That's fine," she smiled and reached over to unplug the tub.

"Could you hand me that towel over there?" she asked, and he gladly held it up for her. He offered his hand for her to hold as she stepped out of the tub and she graciously accepted it. He wrapped her in the towel and dried her skin off. "You're gorgeous," he whispered as his hands made his way over the towel several times.

He leaned in and kissed her on her lips. It was a short kiss, but she didn't mind. She smiled at him when he pulled back and ran her hand down his face. "I'll let you get dressed," his voice rasped and stepped away from her, motioning to the dog to join him as he left the bathroom. Moxie stood up from his spot in their bathroom and followed Andy out of the room.

Sharon took a couple of deep breaths as Andy left their bathroom and went downstairs. She looked at herself in the mirror. Not only did she have to deal with a non-cooperating subject today, but then Brenda decided to show up in her Murder Room. "The nerve of her to think that I would just let her take over," she huffed as she got dressed.

And topping off the day, Emily told her that she invited her father to her performance on Friday as well. Sharon shook her head at the thought of seeing Jack again. She finished getting dressed and turned off the light. She headed downstairs and joined her family in the kitchen.

After dinner, Matthew took his homework and moved it into the dinning room so that he could spread out his project. Emily was helping clear the kitchen with her mom while Andy took Moxie out for a walk around the neighborhood.

"Mom, is everything okay? You seem distracted," Emily asked her as she helped load the dishwasher. Sharon looked at her daughter and smiled. "I'm fine sweetie," she told her. "It's just this case, and Matthew got a bloody nose today," she trailed off and Emily placed her hand on her arm. "And I mentioned I invited Dad to my show," she added, and Sharon looked at her.

"I just don't want you to be disappointed when he doesn't show up," Sharon looked at her with sad eyes. "What's with Matthew getting a bloody nose?" Emily changed the topic of discussion. Sharon huffed as she pushed away from the counter and walked over to the island. "I'm not sure," she said as she placed the pizza tray underneath in the cabinet.

"Has he mentioned anything to you about having an ear ache or anything like that?" she asked Emily as they stood there. "No, Mom, he hasn't complained about anything like that to me," Emily informed her, and Sharon smiled seeing that she was concerned about her little brother.

Meanwhile, Andy was walking Moxie down the block when Moxie started barking at a car that was parked on the street. Andy looked over at the car that Moxie didn't seem to like now. Someone was sitting in the driver's seat but that was all that Andy could tell. He shook his head and mumbled, "tinted windows," and kept walking, pulling Moxie away with him.

The neighbors down the block were outside putting up their Christmas decorations. They waved to Andy and Moxie as they walked by and Andy waved back to them. "Hey Chris!" Andy said as Chris walked over to the sidewalk. Chris shook Andy's hand. "How's it going?" Chris asked him. "Things are good," Andy said and pointed to the car on the other side of the street. "Do you know who belongs to that car?" he asked him.

Chris looked over Andy's shoulder and shook his head. "No, but I have seen it in the area before. It might belong to the Henderson's boy across the way," he added. Andy nodded. "Chris, please come help with this," Chris's wife called out from the porch of the house. She looked up and saw him talking with Andy. "Oh, hi Andy," she waved, and Andy waved back. "I better go," Chris said and then returned to decorating his house. Andy and Moxie continued their walk back home.

When Andy and Moxie returned home, the outside timer with their Christmas lights had turned on and the house dazzled in white lights. Both Rusty and Matthew had helped Andy decorate the outside of the house last weekend, per Sharon's instructions, and he thought the house looked festive with the garland and lights combination. It really showed Sharon's sense of occasion.

As they walked through the back door of the house, everything seemed a little quiet for a typical evening at their house. Andy took Moxie off of his leash and watched as the dog trotted towards the kitchen. Andy hung up Moxie's leash in the mud room and proceeded to see why it was so quiet in the house.

He noticed that the kitchen was already tidied up and everything from dinner was put away. He made his way towards the dining room and saw Matthew diligently working on his diorama, cutting construction paper with his scissors. "Hey buddy, do you know where everyone else is?" Andy asked but Matthew shook his head no. "Mom was in here earlier and helped me with a design idea but then she left," he told him.

"Do you like it so far?" Matthew turned the shoe box around to show Andy. He had lined the back of the box with blue construction paper and started putting tiny pieces of green paper along the side. "It looks great, Matthew," Andy smiled as he looked at the shoe box. He ruffled Matthew's hair. "I'm going to go look for your mom," Andy told him and left the room in search for Sharon.

He made his way down the hallway and peeked inside the den but Sharon wasn't there. He took a deep breath and then faintly heard music coming from the family room. When he walked into the family room, he saw Sharon sitting on the couch and he felt like he could breath again. "Hi," he bent down and nuzzled at her neck.

She placed her hand on the side of his face and hummed in response. "Hi," she replied as she turned her head to look up at him. "What are you doing in here?" he asked as he made his way around the couch, holding onto her hand the whole time. He sat down next to her and pulled her into his side, his arm now wrapped around her.

"I thought I would just sit here and look at the Christmas tree," she told him as she leaned her head onto his shoulder. Andy could feel the tension in Sharon's body. He kissed the top of her head. "Want to tell me what's troubling you?" he whispered. "What do you mean?" she didn't turn her head and continued to watch the tree.

Andy shifted so that he could look into Sharon's eyes. "Well, you were more relaxed when you were upstairs in the bathtub. Do I need to suggest that again, maybe with some company?" he suggested, smiling his smile and she smiled back. "Or, I could give you a massage, later tonight if that would help," he added.

"Emily invited Jack to her performance Friday night," Sharon huffed and relaxed back into Andy's arms. "Oh, well, he is her father," Andy said, and with no response from Sharon, he knew that he needed to show he was on her side. "Is he coming to the show?" he asked. "Emily didn't say for sure, just that he wouldn't be sitting by us," she drew circles on his chest over his shirt.

"Where is Emily?" he relaxed under her touch. "She's upstairs, probably going over the steps in her head for the performance," Sharon continued to draw tiny circles. "I'm going to take Matthew tomorrow morning to the doctor for a sick call. His office hours start early in the morning," Sharon said. "Okay, I think that's a good thing to do," Andy adjusted his position on the couch which caused Sharon to now be on top of him.

"So, what else is bothering you besides Jack?" he asked as he ran his hands up and down her back in a soothing motion. Sharon released a small moan as his hands worked their magic. "Your former Chief sticking her nose in our investigation," she mumbled into his shoulder. Andy chuckled. "Yeah, I figured that had something to do with it," he kissed her head again.

"What did she want in your office?" he asked her. Sharon moved her head to the side. "She wanted to speak to Grady, but I told her no, which she didn't like," she told him. "Since she's the Chief of investigations for the DA's office, all she has to do is speak to Andrea and she can do her own investigation," she added. "Did you tell her that?" he asked. "Well, yes but not just how I mentioned it to you," she said and Andy moved his arms.

"Knowing her, I'm sure she wasn't too happy about that," he said. "No, she wasn't," Sharon laid her head down again on Andy's shoulder. "She had the nerve to ask me why I wouldn't cooperate with her," she added, and turned her head into his shoulder to stifle a laugh. Andy just held her as she shifted her head again so that they were both looking at the Christmas tree and the lights around the fireplace.

Sharon thought it was ironic that Brenda would be the one now asking why she wouldn't cooperate when all those years ago, she was the one that would give Sharon a hard time during the audit and everything else. She thought about that as she laid in Andy's arms on the couch.

"Mom," Matthew's voice interrupted her thoughts. Sharon moved her head to look at their son standing next to them. Sharon sat up, breaking contact with Andy. "What is it, sweetie?" she asked him. "My ears hurt again," he told her and she reached to feel his forehead.

"Hmm, you feel a little warm," she said to him and notice Andy stand up and walked towards the kitchen. "I'll get him his medicine," Andy called out to Sharon before she could ask him. She smiled at Matthew and then patted the seat next to her. "Come here," she said and Matthew sat down next to her.

"Daddy's going to get you something and I'm going to take you to the doctor tomorrow morning," she said, moving his hair to one side. Andy returned with the medicine bottle, the small measuring cup, and a glass of water. He handed the medicine to Sharon and she measured it into the cup and handed it to Matthew.

"Here sweetie," she said and watched Matthew take the medicine. Andy handed him the glass of water and he swallowed a couple of sips. She sat there with him for a few minutes as Andy stood next to them. "Why don't you go get ready for bed, and maybe I'll read you a bedtime story," Sharon said. Matthew got off of the couch and Sharon did as well, taking him upstairs.

"I'll lock up down here and meet you up there," Andy told her and walked towards the back door. He heard Moxie get up and follow him to the door. "Do you need to go out?" Andy asked the dog and he wagged his tail. Andy grabbed the leash and placed it on Moxie's collar. "Come on," he said and opened the door.

As they stepped outside into the backyard, Andy noticed that Rusty was just getting home. "Hey," he said and waved to the kid. "Hey," Rusty placed his messenger bag over his shoulder. "Andrea got you working late or something?" Andy asked him. "Ah, yeah, I was at her office. This murder of ADA O'Malley has her running ragged," Rusty told him.

"Are you hungry?" Andy asked as Moxie was walking around, sniffing, and started barking. "No, I ate already. What's he barking at?" Rusty nodded to Moxie and Andy just shrugged his shoulders. "Don't know," he answered as there was nothing in the area for the dog to bark at. After Moxie stopped barking, they heard another dog in the neighborhood barking and Moxie barked at that dog.

"I guess he's having a conversation with one of the neighborhood dogs," Rusty said as he climbed the stairs up to his place. "I guess," Andy muttered. "Good night," Rusty said and closed the door to his apartment over the garage. "Night," Andy looked at Moxie and he was again wagging his tail. "Alright, let's get back inside," he said and they went back into the house.

Andy and Moxie made their way upstairs after locking up the house. Andy peeked inside Matthew's room and saw him laying in bed, with Sharon sitting on the edge, reading him a story. Seeing that sight tugged at his heart. Moxie jumped up on the bed and laid down next to Matthew as Sharon continued to read the story. She glanced up from the book and noticed Andy leaning on the door frame. He smiled at her while she continued reading.

She glanced at Matthew and saw his eyes were closed and he was hugging his teddy bear. She placed the book down on the nightstand and kissed his forehead, noticing that his fever must have gone down. She stood up, said good night to the dog, and walked out of his room into Andy's waiting arms.

He kissed her in the hallway. "You are one amazing mother, person, love of my life," he said between kisses. They broke apart and retreated into their bedroom. Sharon got herself ready for bed and Andy did the same. "Rusty came home not too long ago. Saw him when I took Moxie out," he called out to her in the bathroom, knowing she would want to know when he got home.

Andy changed his t-shirt and put on his pajama pants as he waited patiently for Sharon to be done in the bathroom. When Sharon came out of the bathroom, she was wearing a new, silk, nightgown with spaghetti straps and a short silk robe. Andy took one look at her and his mouth opened but no words came out.

Sharon walked over to him and ran her hands up his chest. "I take it from the lack of words, you like my new attire," she smiled and kissed him. "Yes, I do," he said as they broke their kiss. "When did you purchase this?" he asked as he started to move the robe off of her shoulders. "Last weekend, while you were decorating the house, I may have stopped at my favorite store before I went grocery shopping," she told him and pulled him in for another kiss.

"I believe you promised me a massage tonight," she said as she broke away and sauntered over to their bed. Andy watched her and sighed. "Yes, I did promise you that," he followed her and had her lie down on her stomach. Once she was comfortable with the pillows propped up underneath her head, he began to massage her back with his hands. He instantly felt her relaxing under his touch as he worked the kinks out of her shoulders.

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 9

The next morning, Sharon disentangled herself from Andy's arms as he was still sleeping. She had woken up early and didn't want to disturb him. She quietly made her way over to the bathroom and once she was finished, she glanced at the bed again, seeing that Andy was laying on his stomach now, and made her way out of their room.

She wasn't sure which dream she had that woke her up but knew that she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. She made her way to the kitchen and turned on the light over the table. She then fixed herself a cup of tea and took the tea with her to the den. Placing the tea on her desk, she sat down and began to go over some paperwork she had brought home with her yesterday.

Some of the paperwork were the financials of ADA O'Malley, although now she was reading over some hidden account that he had in place. "What were you thinking?" she asked out loud as she read over the different transactions. She didn't want to believe that this ADA was "dirty" but there was no other explanation that she could come up with.

She took out her notebook and started to go over the notes she took when they interviewed Grady the last time. He had mentioned something that had stuck out with her. "The numbers weren't adding up," she mumbled to herself as she then glanced back at the financials.

Meanwhile, Andy reached over for Sharon but he was met with only feeling the sheets underneath his hand. He opened his eyes and saw that Sharon was no longer sleeping next to him. He rolled over to look at the clock. It was 3:30. He groaned when he saw the time and rubbed his eyes as he moved himself off of the bed.

He looked towards the bathroom but noticed the light was off. He sighed, throwing a shirt on and then made his way to the hallway and down the stairs in search of Sharon. He didn't have far to go as he saw her sitting at her desk in the den as soon as he started to come down the stairs. He ran his hand through his hair as he approached her.

"Hey," he said quietly not wanting to startle her with his presence. She looked at him and gave him a small smile. "Did I wake you?" she asked him as she placed the papers down on her desk. "I was wondering where you went," he didn't answer her question but scratched his head instead, still trying to wake himself up from sleep.

"Sorry, I couldn't sleep and didn't want to wake you, so I came down here to make myself some tea and then I sat down here and started to look over O'Malley's financials, the new account that Mike found yesterday," she explained as he told her to scooch over in her chair. She tried to make room for him but that wasn't working so she stood up, he sat down on the chair instead, and then she sat down on his lap.

"What am I looking at here?" he asked her as he looked over one of the papers. "Those are transactions going into an account that O'Malley had set up under his mother's name," she explained as he kept reading. "So, he was dirty then?" he asked but Sharon shrugged her shoulders, not wanting to jump to that conclusion although she had already gone there minutes before Andy came downstairs.

"When we are done investigating his murder, I'm thinking about handing everything else over to the Chief of Investigations for the District Attorney's Office and having her conduct her own investigation into him," she said as she wrapped her arm around Andy's back and gently rested her head on his shoulder.

"I'm sure she would be happy about that, your cooperation and everything," he chuckled as he placed the paper back on the desk and wrapped his arms around Sharon. "I said I was thinking about it, that's all," she said in a sleepy voice. They sat there for a little longer until Andy shifted under her and moved the chair.

"Let's go back upstairs," he suggested to her and she hummed in response. She stood up from his embrace and Andy held her hand as they made their way back up the stairs. Sharon stopped outside of Matthew's room. "I just want to check on him and make sure he's okay," she whispered and he let go of her hand.

Sharon carefully opened Matthew's door and saw he was sleeping. She quietly walked over to him and felt his forehead with her hand. He didn't have a fever anymore and she was happy about that. Moxie lifted his head as Sharon left and then went back to sleep.

Sharon closed the door and reached for Andy's hand again. He led her back to their room, both climbing into their bed and he snuggled up to Sharon. They both fell back asleep.

The next time they woke up was to their alarm beeping. Andy groaned as he shifted his body and reached over Sharon to turn the annoying alarm off. He looked down and saw Sharon was looking up at him. She looked beautiful, he thought to himself, and leaned down to kiss her. "Good morning," he mumbled as their lips met.

"Good morning," she returned his kiss with a smile. He rolled over on his back and laid there for a few seconds before he felt the bed move and saw Sharon getting up. She wrapped her robe around her body and walked towards the bathroom. He lowered his head back on his pillow and closed his eyes for a brief moment. Sharon stepped out of the bathroom and saw Andy was still in bed.

"You have to get up too," she said as she made her way to their closet to pick out her clothes for the day. He groaned as he moved and sat up on the edge of the bed. He turned his neck and stretched his arms. That's when he saw Sharon step out of their closet, completely naked underneath her robe, as she walked back towards the bathroom.

"Hey, wait a minute, you can't just," he said as he quickly stood up from their bed and tried to follow her into the bathroom but she closed the door just before he got to her. He was now facing a closed door and he leaned his head against it. "Walk around like that without getting me," he mumbled looking down at the floor, and sighed.

Seconds later the door opened and Sharon grabbed his hand and led him inside the bathroom, a grin on his face as the door was closed behind him.

Twenty minutes later, the shower was turned off and Andy stepped out of the enclosed glass, wrapping the towel that Sharon had laid out around his waist. He saw Sharon getting dressed and stepped over to her. He moved her hair to the side and kissed her neck.

"I'm getting ready so that I can take Matthew to the doctor, and if you keep doing that, you're going to make me late," Sharon closed her eyes and held her hand against Andy's cheek, keeping his face close to her neck. "Hmm, I can't help it that my wife is so beautiful, she drives me crazy every time I lay eyes on her," Andy gruffed as he moved his head away to look at Sharon in the mirror.

"Flattery will get you everywhere, Mister Flynn," she smiled and stood up to face him. He smiled at her, and as much as she was tempted to unravel his towel at his waist she kissed him quickly on his lips. "Get yourself dressed and please be careful with the search warrant this morning," she said as she left him in the bathroom and walked out into their room to grab her shoes.

"It's a search warrant, what could possibly go wrong?" he called out to her as he looked at himself in the mirror, deciding if he should shave or not. She stood by the door again, all dressed and ready to go wake Matthew up. "Please, be careful," she said, a little worried in her voice. Andy picked it up and nodded to her. "I will be careful," he told her and continued to get himself ready as she left their room.

She walked across the hallway and knocked on Matthew's door, opening it to see if the boy was up yet. She saw him petting Moxie and laying half on the dog and half on the bed. "Hey Matthew," she walked over to him and smoothed back his hair. He turned around to face her. "Time to get up and get yourself dressed," she said and he did.

"How are you feeling this morning?" she asked him as he walked over to his dresser and pulled out a t-shirt. "I don't know," he shrugged his shoulders as he made his way to his closet. "Are you taking me to school after the doctor?" he asked before he pulled his uniform out. "Yes, unless the doctor visit says otherwise," she smiled as she sat down on the side of his bed.

"Do your ears hurt you this morning?" she asked before he walked down the hallway to the bathroom. "No," he said and then closed the door to get himself ready. Sharon looked at Moxie who was still on the bed and stood up. "Come on Moxie, let's take you out and fed," she walked out of the room with the dog following her down the stairs and into the kitchen.

After Moxie ran around the yard barking at things Sharon couldn't see, he came back to her as she stood on the patio. "Alright, breakfast time," Sharon held the backdoor open and Moxie ran in and waited for her in the mud room where his bowls were located. She fed him his breakfast and refilled his water bowl.

Meanwhile, back upstairs, Andy grabbed his suit jacket after securing his gun and handcuffs on his belt. As he turned around, he saw Matthew waiting for him in the hallway. "Hey buddy," he said as he stepped out into the hallway. "Are you coming with Mom and me to the doctor's?" he asked. "No, I'm not. I'm going to work while Mom takes you this morning," Andy told him as they made their way downstairs.

"Okay," Matthew said and went into the kitchen. Andy stopped by the den and picked up the coffee mug that Sharon had left there this morning and brought that into the kitchen. He placed it in the sink as Sharon was taking the milk out of the refrigerator. "What cereal would you like?" she asked Matthew who already had a bowl in front of him on the table.

"Oh, uh, Frosted Flakes," he thought about it before deciding on that cereal. Sharon went to the pantry and got the Frosted Flakes box and handed it to Matthew. She also handed the Raisin Bran box to Andy. "And here you go," she said with a smile.

Andy gave one look at the Raisin Bran and then over at the Frosted Flakes box. "How come he gets the Frosted Flakes and I get this?" Andy gave a pouted look to Sharon. He always wanted the cereal that Matthew was eating but knew he couldn't have it. She gave him a sympathetic look and rubbed his arm. "Because you are on a heart healthy diet, dear," she told him. He shook his head.

Andy leaned over as he sat next to Matthew. "You're very lucky Matthew to have those frosted flakes," Andy whispered to him as he poured the raisin bran into a bowl. Matthew giggled and Sharon turned around wondering what was going on behind her back. The sight she saw between Andy and Matthew was priceless and she smiled.

Emily came downstairs as they were all getting ready to leave for the day. "I have the pre-production party tonight, just as a reminder," she told her mom and Sharon walked over and hugged her daughter. "I'm so very excited for you, my darling daughter," Sharon told her. "Thanks Mom," Emily said as she squeezed her tight.

"Good luck," Andy told Emily and all three of them walked out the backdoor and headed towards the garage. Matthew climbed in the backseat of Sharon's car. "Be good for the doctor," Andy winked at him and then closed his door. He turned around to face Sharon. "And you, promise me you'll be careful on the search warrant?" she said to him.

"Of course!" Andy winked and pulled her in for a kiss. "Let me know how the doctor goes and when you're back at the office," he whispered in her ear as he pulled himself away. "I will," Sharon smiled and he walked her to the driver's seat. After closing her door and watching them pull away, he got in his car and headed towards the office.

Andy pulled into the parking garage and met Provenza as he parked his car. "Flynn, I got a text from Tao that he secured the warrant from Judge Richwood. We're all meeting down here," Provenza told him as he got out of the car. "Great, do we know the layout of this building?" Andy asked as they both walked to the back of his car.

"Julio is getting all that together," Provenza said as Andy opened the lift gate to his car. "Where's the Commander?" Provenza asked looking around for her car. "She took Matthew to the doctor this morning before coming here," Andy explained as he took off his suit jacket and put his bulletproof vest on.

"Oh? Is the kid okay?" Provenza asked as he waved the rest of the team over to their cars. "His ears have been bothering him on and off," Andy told him as the rest of the team approached them.

"Alright everyone, this should be a fairly simple and easy search warrant to execute," Provenza started to brief the team.

Meanwhile, at the Pediatrician's office, Matthew was sitting in the waiting area, while Sharon checked him in at the receptionist's desk. "Thank you, Mrs. Flynn. The nurse will be calling Matthew in a few minutes," the girl smiled and Sharon nodded. She went to sit down next to Matthew and noticed how nervous he was.

"You okay?" she asked and Matthew scooted closer to her on his chair. "Yeah," he mumbled and she placed her arm around him, giving him comfort as they waited. The waiting area of the office was busy. Other children were there with their parents.

Sharon was lost in thought when she heard the nurse calling Matthew's name. Matthew stood up and Sharon followed with him into the hallway. The nurse showed them which room they would be going in and Matthew had a seat on the exam table.

"So, Matthew, what brings you here early this morning?" the nurse asked him. "My ears hurt me sometimes," Matthew said quietly. "Oh, well I'm sorry to hear that," the nurse said as she wrote that down in his chart. Sharon sat down across from where Matthew was. She watched as the nurse took his vitals.

"I'm going to see if you have a fever now," the nurse explained to Matthew as she waved the temporal scanner across Matthew's forehead. "97.2," she told them and wrote that down as well. "Anything else that's been bothering you, body aches, chills, headaches?" the nurse asked as she looked at Matthew. Matthew shook his head no.

"He had a bloody nose yesterday afternoon," Sharon informed her. "How bad was it?" the nurse asked. "It was a couple of drops at first, but then it started to gush out of my nose," Matthew told her. "I'll let the doctor know you are in here," the nurse told them. "Thank you," Sharon said and watched the nurse leave the room.

"Matthew, I don't want you holding back anything from the doctor when he comes in to see you," Sharon said hoping Matthew understood her meaning. "What do you mean?" Matthew asked. "I mean I want you to tell him exactly when your ears hurt, how long they have hurt you, and any other symptoms you experience with them hurting you," Sharon smiled and grabbed his hand to comfort him.

Just then, Matthew's pediatrician stepped into the room. "Hi Matthew! I hear you're not feeling well," Doctor Tim said as he washed his hands in the sink and wiped them with a towel before shaking Matthew's hand. "So, when did your ears start hurting you?" he asked as he sat down on a stool in front of Matthew and Sharon.

"A couple of months ago," Matthew told him and Doctor Tim nodded as he examined Matthew. "Have they gotten worse or better over that time?" he asked as he took the otoscope and looked into Matthew's left ear first. "The same," Matthew answered. "And have you been taking anything for the pain?" Doctor Tim asked.

"No, he hasn't until last night because he didn't tell anyone that his ears were hurting him," Sharon answered and Doctor Tim nodded as he looked into Matthew's right ear. "How come you didn't tell your parents about your ear aches?" he asked him. "I didn't want them to worry," he mumbled. "Oh, I see," Doctor Tim stated and continued looking at Matthew's face.

"Tell me if this hurts you," he said and pressed his fingers gently around Matthew's face, concentrating on where the sinuses were located. "No," Matthew replied. "Okay, I also heard that you had a nose bleed yesterday," he asked Matthew and Matthew nodded. "It was cool to see all that blood," Matthew chuckled. "Oh, I bet!" Doctor Tim said as he placed his stethoscope in his ears.

"I'm going to listen to your lungs and your heart," he told Matthew as he placed the diaphragm on Matthew's chest and listened carefully. "Your lungs and heart sound good," he said as he took the stethoscope and placed it around his neck. He sat back down on the stool and addressed both of them.

"Matthew, I did see some fluid in both of your ears, which is probably causing your ear aches," Doctor Tim explained. "Now do they occur every day or is it mostly on and off?" he asked him. "Sometimes it's every day, but there have been a couple of times when my ears don't hurt," Matthew told him. "Are you having a hard time hearing anything?" he asked Matthew. "No," Matthew shook his head and then looked at Sharon.

"I think what you have Matthew is some fluid build up in your ear from a possible ear infection," Doctor Tim explained. "I'm going to prescribe you some anti-biotics, which should help clear up the fluid and you should start to feel better," he continued.

"What about his nose bleed yesterday?" Sharon asked in a concerned tone. "Sometimes, the fluid places pressure on the sinus's which could cause a nosebleed," he explained. "If it happens once, without trauma to the area, I'm not too worried about it, if it happens often, then we will need to look further and may conduct some tests, but I think the anti-biotics will clear this up in no time," Doctor Tim smiled, reassuring both Sharon and Matthew, but mostly Sharon.

"Alright, Matthew, you take care, and I hope you feel better soon," Doctor Tim said and left the room. Matthew climbed down from the exam table once the doctor left and walked over to Sharon. "Are you going to drop me off at school now?" he asked as Sharon ran her fingers through his hair. "Do you feel up to going to school?" she asked.

"Yes," he nodded and the nurse walked back into the room. "Alright Matthew, you are all set," she said to him and handed Sharon the prescription for the anti-biotic. "Here is the prescription, and Doctor Tim says you are all set," she told her. "I hope you feel better, Matthew," she smiled and walked Sharon and Matthew back out to the waiting area.

Sharon stopped at the desk and the receptionist looked up at her from her desk. "We'll send this to your insurance company. Have a nice day," she smiled. "Thank you," Sharon smiled and walked out of the office holding Matthew's hand. He walked up to the elevator and pushed the button to go down. "How about we go get this filled and while we wait, I'll take you to Dunkin Donuts and we can get a treat," Sharon stepped onto the elevator and Matthew went with her. "But we won't tell Daddy," he grinned as the doors closed.

TBC


	10. Chapter 10

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 10

Andy pulled the car up in front of the building where the business of Ronald Dawson and Sons was located on Olympic Boulevard. There was a small office building with warehouses behind it and a long open trucking yard as a typical construction company would have.

Andy placed his sunglasses over his eyes as he stepped out of the car to join the rest of the team. Two patrol cars met them at the place. Provenza gathered them towards the front of the gates. "Alright people, now we have a search warrant to look at their business, financials mainly, to see if we can tie ADA O'Malley's death with them," he explained to the group.

"Now Rogers, I want you to stay out here and keep an eye on things while we head inside. If you see anything out of the ordinary, let me know!" Provenza told the officer. Rogers nodded to him and went to his post.

"Daniels, I want you and Officer Lacey to go with Detective Sykes and Sanchez, check out the trucking area in back," Provenza gave them their orders and they went off with Amy and Julio.

"Mike, do you know what exactly we are looking for inside?" Provenza asked him as they made their way to the front of the building where the entrance was located. Buzz followed them ready to videotape any evidence they found.

"We need to find some sort of link between this place and the money that went into O'Malley's secret account," Mike informed him as he opened the door to the building.

Andy, Provenza, Mike, Buzz, and three other patrol officers entered the main area and Provenza pulled out his badge to show the receptionist. "Hello, LAPD, we are here to serve a search warrant," he smiled at the woman who was initially shocked by their presence.

"Uh, let me get Mister Dawson, one moment," she stood up from her desk and went to another area. Andy glanced around the area they were in and noted that it looked like a typical waiting area for a business.

He saw there were names on the wall underneath awards plaques and wondered what the different awards were for. "Hey Mike, check out this name," Andy pointed to Theresa Jones in the list. Mike looked at the name and figured where Andy was going with it. "TJ?" Mike questioned and Andy shrugged his shoulders. "Might be," he pondered.

"Gentleman, how can I assist the LAPD this morning?" Ronald Dawson showed his presence at the doorway to the office. "Lieutenants Tao, Flynn, and Provenza, we have a search warrant to search your financial books and other media," Mike explained to him as Provenza showed him the warrant.

Ronald Dawson nodded and allowed them to follow him back into the offices. "What's this about?" he asked as he made his way over to the comptroller's office. "ADA O'Malley, he was killed a couple of days ago and we linked him to your business," Provenza explained.

Ronald Dawson heard them mention O'Malley's name and he froze slightly. He didn't want to tip them off so he played dumb. "I'm sorry I don't know who that is," he gestured with his hand to Mike who stepped inside the small office area.

"This is my son, Charles, he handles all the finances here," Ronald Dawson introduced his son to them. "He will be happy to answer any questions you might have," he added and Mike glanced at Provenza who nodded to him.

"Mister Dawson, I was wondering if you could answer some of our questions," Provenza asked and Ronald Dawson led them out of the office. "Sure, if you would follow me to my office," he told Andy and Provenza and they followed him down the hallway. Buzz stayed behind with Mike and the patrol officers.

Andy and Provenza were led to a much bigger office in the back of the building. "Please have a seat, gentlemen," Ronald Dawson gestured as he took a seat behind his desk. Andy and Provenza sat down after looking at each other, both of them wondering why he wasn't protesting the search of his business.

"So, what would you like to know?" Ronald Dawson asked as he sat back in his chair, trying to play it cool. "Well, for starters do you have anyone working here with the initials TJ?" Andy asked. Ronald Dawson thought about it for a moment while Provenza wondered why Andy would start off with that question.

"Yes, there's a Theresa Jones that works for me," Ronald Dawson answered. "You don't by any chance have a picture of her?" Andy asked further and Provenza gave him a look. Andy turned his head. "What?" he whispered.

"I do, actually, on our intranet, we have pictures posted of various parties we are invited to, here you go, Lieutenant," Ronald Dawson turned his computer screen around to show both of them a picture of Theresa Jones.

As soon as Andy saw the picture he knew that was the same woman who was with O'Malley the night he was murdered. "Do you want me to set you two up or something?" Ronald Dawson asked Andy. "Uh, I'm happily married," Andy grinned at Ronald Dawson.

"So, you came all the way down here to ask me about one of my employees and to look at my business financials?" Ronald Dawson sat back in his chair and looked at Andy and Provenza. "What kind of construction business do you run here?" Provenza asked.

"We provide supplies to our sites and also do general construction contracting here," Ronald Dawson explained. "We currently have 5 construction site locations that we are responsible for and every morning we make sure the supplies are all set up," he explained further.

"How do you manage all these sites at once, I mean do you go out to each one of them?" Provenza asked. "No, I usually send out my runners to the different sites but for the past two days I have been a person short," Ronald Dawson stated as he sat there.

"My son Charles found someone about a month ago and he seemed to be a good fit to my business. Said he knew a lot of the construction business, came from the Atlanta area, but he didn't show up the past two days to work and I can't have that happen to my business," Ronald Dawson spoke about Grady.

"Well, we're sorry for your problem, Mister Dawson, but we have a little issue of our own," Provenza started. "Yeah, well, you see, one of our Assistant District Attorney's was murdered two nights ago and we have reason to believe that someone from your business may be involved in it," Andy said calmly to him.

"How so?" Ronald Dawson asked as he tried to keep calm. "You see, Provenza, he's not so dumb after all," Andy snickered as he watched Ronald Dawson across from them. "Well, Ronald, someone in your business hasn't been doing business for a while," Provenza quipped.

"We traced money from your business to an undisclosed account, that just so happened to belong to the late ADA O'Malley," Andy informed Ronald Dawson and he shuffled in his chair. "You've got to be mistaken with that, Lieutenants," Ronald Dawson's voice faltered.

"Guess I spoke too soon about being dumb," Andy mumbled. "Look, I don't know what you two think, but I run a legitimate business here!" Ronald Dawson exclaimed and pounded his fist on top of his desk.

Provenza and Andy glanced at each other. "Sounds like we hit a nerve," Provenza mumbled and Andy nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile, Amy, Julio, and the two patrol officers were checking out the trucking area of the business out back. "Hey Sykes, don't you think that is a lot of pallets over there?" Julio pointed over to their left. Amy looked up from where she was standing and saw where Julio was pointing to.

"Hey, what's in those pallets over there?" Amy asked the foreman who was helping them. "Those, just construction supplies," he informed them and handed some more paperwork to Amy. "Here's the information you requested," he told her.

"I don't know Sykes, looks like that's a lot of supplies to be holding, even for a construction company," Julio commented and pulled out his phone. "Mind if we take a look?" Amy questioned him and started to walk towards the pallets.

"Hey Lieutenant, Sykes and I are in the trucking area and we stumbled upon their construction supply pallets but Sir, there's a lot of pallets, especially for a construction company, something doesn't fit," Julio explained to Provenza over the phone as he walked away from the ear shot of the foreman.

Julio saw the foreman start walking towards Amy and the two officers. "Yeah, I do mind!" the foreman shouted after them. "Uh, Sir, we may have a situation down here," Julio calmly told Provenza and hung up his phone.

Back in the office, Provenza looked at his phone. "I think Julio hung up and sounded urgent, Flynn," he said, standing up. "What do you keep in those pallets in back by the trucking area?" Provenza asked Ronald who was trying to keep up with them.

"Hey, now wait a minute! Those are just construction supplies!" Ronald Dawson called out to them but they were ahead of him in the hallway.

"Here, I think it's this way," Andy pointed to another hallway and saw the sign to the loading dock. "You might want to call Mike and Buzz and have them meet us back here," he told Provenza, opening the door to the loading dock area.

Andy saw Amy and Julio trying to look at one of the pallets while Officer Lacey tried to calm down the foreman. He quickly walked over to where they were standing. "Hey pal, knock it off or else you'll be arrested for obstructing justice!" Andy pointed his finger at the foreman and made his way to the pallets.

Mike and Buzz, along with Charles Dawson, walked out of the building and joined Provenza and Ronald Dawson. "Buzz, go over there and film everything that they are doing," Provenza barked the order to him. Provenza then turned around to face Ronald Dawson and his son Charles.

"Now, before we start opening those crates, here is your chance to tell us what's in them," Provenza nicely told the two but they didn't budge. "I'm going to call my lawyer," Ronald Dawson said. "Funny, calling for a lawyer already and we haven't even found anything yet," Provenza quipped back at the two and glanced over at Mike.

"We need a crow bar to open this pallet crate," Andy stated and looked around for one nearby. He saw them hanging up on the wall and went to grab one, bringing it back, and handed it to Julio.

Julio pried one end of the pallet crate open with the crowbar and Andy shone his flashlight inside to get a better look. "Holy shit," Andy mumbled as he saw at least 20 semi-automatic rifles located inside. He glanced at Julio who saw the contents as well and nodded towards Buzz.

Officer Lacey controlled the foreman and placed handcuffs on him, securing him there. Andy made a hand gesture to Provenza in the shape of a gun and Provenza nodded. He turned around to face Ronald Dawson and placed him under arrest. Before he could finish reading the Miranda warning, Charles Dawson took off and started running towards the back of the trucking yard.

Julio took off after him and gave chase along with Amy. There really wasn't anywhere for Charles to go as he ran into the dead end in the back of the yard. Julio caught up with him and tackled him to the ground. They fought for a few seconds before Amy caught up and helped secure Charles in handcuffs.

"Why'd you run Charlie?" Julio grabbed him and stood him up. Charles didn't say anything and Julio and Amy walked him back to where everyone else was.

Meanwhile, Sharon and Matthew were at Dunkin Donuts waiting there while Matthew's prescription was filled next door when her phone rang. She pulled it out and saw it was Provenza calling her. "Yes, Lieutenant?" she answered her phone.

"Ah yes, Commander and how are you this morning?" Provenza asked her. "Fine, just waiting for Matthew's prescription to be ready and then I'll be dropping him off at school. How is the search warrant going?" she asked as she watched Matthew eat his powdered doughnut.

"Well, you'll be happy to know that Ronald Dawson's construction operation has suddenly come to a close," Provenza told her. "Oh, Lieutenant, why is that?" she wondered as she glanced at her watch. "We just found a pallet full of semi-automatic weapons in his trucking warehouse area, and Commander, there's a lot of them here," Provenza described to her.

"Is everyone on the team okay?" she asked him just making sure. "Yes, Ronald's son Charles decided he wanted to go for a run after we found the weapons but Julio and Amy caught him," he explained as he saw both Ronald and his son Charles sitting in the back of squad cars.

"Did Mike find anything in their financials?" she asked. "I'll let Mike explain that to you," Provenza said and handed his phone over to Mike.

"Commander, their financials are a bit complicated but I think once we dump everything and go over the numbers, we should be able to link O'Malley's account to them," Mike explained. "Good, ah, I should be back in the office by 9," she said as Matthew was done eating.

"10-4," Mike said and handed the phone back to Provenza. "Yes Commander?" he said in the phone. "I should be back to the office by 9, I'm assuming you are securing that scene there, correct?" Sharon asked as she unlocked her car.

"Yes, I will handle all things over on this end," Provenza answered. "Good, thank you Lieutenant," she said and hung up her phone. She texted Andy to let him know what the doctor had said about Matthew. She started her car and then drove over to Walgreens to pick up his prescription.

Back at the business, Provenza walked over to where Andy was standing over the pallets that the team was now going through. "Did you tell Sharon?" Andy asked as he watched his friend join him. "Yes, I informed her of what's going on here," Provenza said. "Oh, and she's picking up a prescription for Matthew," he mumbled the last part as Andy nodded.

Andy pulled out his phone and saw that Sharon must have texted him earlier regarding Matthew's appointment. He read the message from his phone and then placed it back in his pocket. "He's got an ear infection," Andy mumbled as they brought another pallet over to the warehouse floor.

"How many more pallets do we have here?" Provenza asked out loud to the team. "Looks like 30 more over there on that side," Buzz said, pointing to the one area in the warehouse. "Ye gods! We're going to be here all day," Provenza mumbled.

"Well, the best part is, that SID will be here soon and they will inventory and continue to go through everything," Andy informed him and Provenza huffed. "I called them while you were on the phone with Sharon, they should be here any minute," Andy looked at his watch.

Meanwhile, Sharon and Matthew were now on their way to Matthew's school after picking up the antibiotic. "When we get to your school, I want you to take your first pill, okay?" Sharon looked in the rear-view mirror as she spoke to Matthew. "Yeah," mumbled Matthew as he looked out the window.

"Matthew, we already spoke about this, the doctor said it was okay for you to go to school today and you also agreed to that as well," Sharon reminded him of their discussion earlier. "I know, but," Matthew started and Sharon shook her head.

"Look at it this way, it's only two more days of school and then you're off for Winter Break, and tomorrow night we are going to see Emily perform," Sharon explained as she pulled the car into the school parking lot.

"Okay," Matthew muttered as the car was placed in park and turned off. Matthew gathered his backpack and met Sharon outside the car. "Try to have a good day, sweetie, and if your ears start bothering you or you get a bloody nose," Sharon told him but he finished her sentence. "I'll go see the nurse right away," Matthew stated. Sharon smiled and they walked into the school building.

TBC


	11. Chapter 11

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 11

Sharon watched from her office as her team walked back into the Murder Room. She got up from her chair behind her desk and walked out of her office. Andy was holding onto Ronald Dawson as he was led into the room. She gave him a slight nod and he returned her nod with a smile and a wink. She watched him lead Ronald Dawson into the interview room along with two other patrol officers.

Provenza followed Mike into the Murder Room, who was carrying a box of evidence they had collected regarding financial books. "Don't worry Commander, everyone was safe, I made sure of it," he told her. "Thank you, Lieutenant," Sharon smiled and turned to see Andy walking back towards them.

"Hey," he placed his hand on her shoulder. She looked at him and was about to say something but they were interrupted by the commotion that was coming from the hallway.

"Ah, Commander I think that's our illustrious runaway, Charles," Provenza stated and all three of them walked towards the hallway.

Julio and Amy led Charles Dawson down the hallway and he was not making it easy for them. "You do realize you have a right to remain silent, correct?" Amy shook her head as she had one of his arms, while Julio held the other one as they led him towards the other interview room. "My dad is going to get me a lawyer and we'll sue all of your asses!" Charles shouted as they led him down the hallway.

"How many weapons are we talking about here?" Sharon asked Provenza as they looked down the hallway from where they were standing. "Last I heard the count was over a hundred," Provenza sighed. "Well, at least we got them off the streets," Andy chimed in and nodded to Sharon. She gave him a small smile.

"Yes, but who knows how many they sold and for how long?" Sharon asked in general. All three of them turned to head back into the Murder Room, with Julio and Amy catching up with them.

"What's the game plan, Commander?" Provenza waited until they were all gathered together in the middle of their office. "Let's play them off of each other, I want to know O'Malley's involvement with them, let's see what they will tell us now that we've uncovered their secret," Sharon said and they all acknowledged.

Meanwhile, down at the theater where the performance of _The Nutcracker_ is being held, Emily and the rest of the cast is holding their final rehearsal. The director is speaking to one of the male leads and Emily is taking a much-needed break with the rest of the act.

"So, are your parents coming to see you tomorrow night?" one of the girls asked her. "I hope so, my mom and my step-dad are coming, as long as they solve some big case they caught, and my dad, well I gave him the details and he said he was coming but who knows," Emily shrugged as they waited to go back on the stage.

Emily walked over to where one of the scenery stands was located with the same girl. "I think Richie likes you," she whispered to Emily. "What?" Emily whispered and swatted at her shoulder. "I'm not joking, he keeps looking over here at you," she said, smiling at Richie, who was standing at the opposite starting point.

Emily looked over at Richie. Yes, he was very attractive but she never thought he would be interested in her. "I'll make sure you two get to talking at the party tonight," the girl giggled and Emily shook her head. The director was done speaking to the other male lead and they were all set for the rehearsal to continue.

Back at the PAB, Sharon and Andy were sitting in the interview room with Charles. "So, why did you run from my officers this morning?" she asked but Charles refused to answer any questions. His left hand was handcuffed to the chair he was sitting on and he tugged on that a little.

"Hey, Charlie," Andy leaned on the table. "You and your father were caught with the weapons in the pallets, they were found in your warehouse, I mean, I think it's best to cooperate here, and maybe you can get a better deal than your father," he continued.

Charles just sat there looking at the ceiling above them and didn't say anything. Andy leaned back in his chair and shrugged his shoulders at Sharon. "I guess he doesn't want a deal," he muttered to Sharon. "Hmm, I guess not," Sharon said and then proceeded to stand up. "Maybe we should just talk to his father and let him take all the heat," she added.

Andy stood up after Sharon and started to follow her out of the room. "Wait!" Charles demanded as they were almost outside. "What kind of deal are we talking about?" he asked them. "Charles, you asked for a lawyer, until your lawyer comes, we cannot make any kind of deals," Sharon told him and started to walk out.

"Wait!" Charles again shouted at them and they both stopped. "I'll tell you what you want to know," he muttered prompting Sharon and Andy to close the door and sit back down at the table. Both Sharon and Andy knew that this was too easy.

Meanwhile, Provenza and Julio were having a similar time with Ronald. "You know, Mister Dawson, we caught you and your business, in possession of unregistered weapons, and questionable money practices," Provenza leaned on the table, placing his hands down. "Now, we can wait here for your lawyer, or you can start cooperating and maybe we can work with you," he finished.

Ronald looked at both Provenza and Julio but he shook his head. "No, I'm waiting for my lawyer," Ronald said and sat back in his chair. "Fine, as we wait here for your lawyer to show up, I'm just going to review a few things with Detective Sanchez," Provenza explained and turned to Julio.

"We start investigating the murder of an Assistant District Attorney, which leads us to his company," Provenza points to Ronald sitting across from them and Julio nodded. "Our investigation further finds the money not adding up," Julio adds. "Prompting us to conduct a search warrant," Provenza furthers along. "And we find the weapons stashed inside pallets," Julio concluded.

Provenza thinks for a minute and then places his finger on the table. "That all sounds like a payoff gone bad, plus the movement of the weapons could be considered interstate commerce, which is a federal offense," he added and then leaned on the table. "You don't want the Feds involved in this," he told Ronald.

"I told Charles to leave O'Malley out of this!" Ronald blurted out in the room. Provenza looks at Julio. "I thought you didn't want to say anything until your lawyer gets here," Julio asked Ronald.

Ronald just sat there, staring at the table. "O'Malley was an old drinking buddy of mine. We used to go out every now and then to a bar and we would discuss life," Ronald started to talk.

Back in Electronics, Mike, Amy, and Buzz watched both computer screens of the two interviews. "Shouldn't they have both waited for their lawyers?" Buzz asked. "It depends on how you see it, Buzz," Mike explained. "They were caught with the hidden weapons, their financials speak volumes, so they can't really deny their involvement," he added.

Back in Interview Room 2, Charles was informing Sharon and Andy of O'Malley's involvement with their business.

"Yeah, I met him several times with money in exchange for him looking the other way," Charles confessed and Sharon held up her hand to stop him for a minute.

"Charles, I need to inform you that if we go further, you may incriminate yourself without your lawyer present," Sharon told him and he nodded.

"Getting O'Malley involved was dad's idea, he was his drinking buddy and so they knew each other pretty well," Charles continued. "He thought, given his status as an ADA, my dad could get O'Malley to look the other way and suggested we pay him for doing so," he confessed as Sharon took notes.

"But, that only lasted a few months before O'Malley started threatening my dad by stating he was going to throw an anonymous tip to the police about the weapons running," Charles stated. Both Sharon and Andy knew that Charles was about to confess to the murder of O'Malley.

"I went to my father with the news and he didn't believe me, said O'Malley wasn't a threat to us and to just keep paying him, but I didn't believe that for a second," Charles huffed at that statement.

"I called him up, told him I needed to meet with him regarding something urgent, and he agreed," Charles stated, shifting in his chair. "I knew he was meeting TJ for dinner at the Hamilton building that evening, so I waited until they were done before calling him because I didn't want her involved in this," he added.

Back in Electronics, Mike made a phone call to Andrea's office. "Andrea, it's Mike Tao, you better get down here to the PAB, we are about to have a confession on O'Malley's murder," he informed her and hung up his phone.

"He met me in the building and we talked," Charles continued.

"What did you two talk about?" Andy asked. "I told him that he needed to stop extorting us, because he was demanding more money in order to keep quiet. That we weren't going to pay him the amount that he wanted," Charles stated as he looked up at Andy.

"Then what happened?" Sharon asked him. Charles hung his head and looked downward towards the floor. "He threatened to turn us both in, but then I reminded him that if he did just that, he would also be in trouble," he muttered. "He said it would be easy for the police to believe an Assistant District Attorney than us," Charles chuckled at that thought.

"Guess it's not easy now," he mumbled as he sat there, a slight grin on his face. Sharon watched him and thought to herself that he had no remorse on anything that he did.

"What happened after you spoke to him?" Andy asked, bringing him back on track. "We continued to argue, he said he was leaving and started walking away, I said we would see about that and went out a different way then him," Charles stated.

"I got in my car and had two other cars waiting with mine. We drove around to the front of the building and I saw O'Malley starting to get in his car. I called his name and he turned around, that's when I shot him," Charles confessed and still didn't show any remorse.

"Why did you have the other cars with you?" Sharon asked him. "I wanted it to look like a drive by shooting," he shrugged his shoulders and sat there staring at the both of them.

Just then, Buzz got on the intercom and told Sharon through her earpiece that Andrea had arrived and was in Electronics. Sharon nodded in acknowledgement and then slid the pad of paper over to Charles.

"One of the Assistant District Attorney's is here now, I need you to write down everything you said to us, and perhaps the ADA's office will give you a deal," Sharon told him and then stood up from her chair.

Andy looked at her and she waved him off, letting him know that she was fine. He nodded and stayed where he was, sitting across from Charles, while she walked out the door.

Sharon let out the breath she seemed to be holding when she was in the room listening to Charles. She shook her head and proceeded to walk down the hallway towards the Murder Room. She slipped inside Electronics and saw Andrea was there standing behind Mike.

"I heard you got a confession," Andrea said as she nodded her head towards the monitor with Charles and Andy on it. "We did, how are Lieutenant Provenza and Detective Sanchez doing with the father?" she asked to the group after acknowledging Andrea.

"He still doesn't want to cooperate," Mike answered her as they looked toward the monitor that had the father, Provenza, and Julio on it. Sharon then glanced back at the monitor with Charles. She saw him writing something down on the pad of paper she gave him before she stepped out. Andy was watching him.

"What did she mean maybe the DA could get me a deal?" he asked Andy as he stopped writing. The pen he was holding was still touching the paper as he looked up where Andy was sitting across from him.

Andy gave him a curious look before answering him. "Well, it's up to the DA's office what type of deal they offer you, Charlie," he told him. "Only my friends call me Charlie," Charles muttered as he sat there and thought about his next move.

"One of my sons, his name is Charlie," Andy said back to him. "Well, that's good for him," Charles said and looked down at the paper as he stretched his neck a couple of times.

Andy did not like the sudden change in Charles demeanor as he sat there. "She said that I would get a deal, that if I told you want happened, that I would get the deal!" Charles raised his voice a little.

"Hey pal! Why don't you just calm down!" Andy raised his voice and stood up from the table.

Charles shook his head. "How'd you know to call me Charlie? Did someone tell you that?" Charles asked as he dropped the pen on the table.

Andy was not about to reveal anything to Charles about what Grady had told them. "Just write down your confession so we can move on with it," Andy told him as he leaned over his hands that were on the table now.

"What are you going to do if I don't old man?" Charles said and Andy smirked at him.

Everyone was watching what was unfolding before them from Electronics. Mike stood up from his chair and started to head towards the interview room where Andy and Charles were located. Sharon nodded as Mike left the room. He was going to give Andy some backup in case things went haywire with Charles.

Sharon was secretly hoping that Andy wasn't going to provoke Charles by saying something to counteract the line about being old. Wishful thinking on her part but she knew Andy and he wasn't going to let that slide.

"Who you calling old?" Andy countered and Charles stood up. His left hand was still connected to the chair by the handcuff so he really couldn't stand up straight. Just then, Mike entered the room. "Everything okay here?" he asked Andy and Andy just nodded.

"Oh yes, everything is just fine here, isn't it Charlie?" Andy said and smirked again as he watched Charles sit back down on his chair. Charles then picked his pen back up and continued to write down his confession.

Andy walked over to the back of the room and leaned up against the wall as he watched Charles continue his writing.

Meanwhile, in the other interview room, Ronald Dawson had just told Provenza and Julio about how he was friends with O'Malley and that he would never hurt him and so on.

Sharon picked up the microphone in Electronics and informed Provenza of Charles's confession. She thought by hearing that news, it could provoke a response from Ronald.

"Good news Ronald, your son confessed to the murder of ADA O'Malley, so you're in the clear for that, but there's still the fact that you and your son were running weapons out of your legitimate construction business, if we can even call it legitimate, so you're still on the hook for that minor detail," Provenza informed him.

"You will be arrested for that and maybe as an accessory to murder, depending on what the DA's office wants to do," Provenza continued and Ronald was silent. The door then opened to the room and two patrol officers walked in to take Ronald down to booking. Julio and Provenza both stood up and Julio walked over to Ronald and asked him to stand up.

Julio placed Ronald in handcuffs and the two patrol officers walked him out of the room. "I'll go down with them sir," Julio told Provenza and left with the officers.

Provenza walked back towards Electronics and was met by Andrea and Sharon outside the room. "Ah, Hobbs, going to offer the little dirtbag a deal now?" he said speaking about Charles's confession. "Unfortunately, yes, Lieutenant, let's just hope his court-appointed lawyer will do what's right in this case," Andrea said and then walked towards the other interview room.

"Commander?" Provenza said wondering if Sharon was okay. "I'm thinking about turning over the investigation into O'Malley's behavior at the DA's office to the Chief of Investigations in the Office of the District Attorney," Sharon didn't bat an eye when she told that to Provenza.

"Of course, Commander," he said and watched her walk away, following Andrea. "And I'll call down to holding and see if we can let Grady go free," he added and Sharon gave him a thumbs up as she stepped into the hallway.

TBC


	12. Chapter 12

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 12

Andy knocked on Sharon's office door before opening it slightly. "Charles and his father are sitting in jail, Provenza got Grady out of holding, and all the paperwork is finished," Andy smiled as he entered her office. Sharon closed her laptop and returned his smile.

Andy noticed some paperwork on her desk as he walked closer to her. "Provenza tells me you are going to turn over the investigation into O'Malley's behavior to Brenda," he said and pointed to the notes and file on O'Malley.

"It gives her something to do, plus it shows cooperation, right?" Sharon shrugged her shoulders and nonchalantly answered him. Andy chuckled. "Yes, it does," he answered. "So, since everything is pretty much finished here and it's almost time to pick up Matthew from school, what do you say to calling it a night?" Andy asked her, hoping she would be in agreement.

Sharon glanced at the clock on her wall. It was early but she had no doubt Chief Mason wouldn't have a problem with her letting the team go a little early on a Thursday. "Well, we did have a very productive day," she smiled.

"Yes, we did, plus we got all those guns off the street," Andy added as he leaned on her desk, looking into her eyes. She started to blush and looked away. He could still make her do that after everything they've been through.

"Speaking of those guns, do we have a final count from SID yet?" Sharon asked as she stood up from her chair and walked around to the other side of her desk. "Mike has all of that paperwork, but last I heard it was around 127 guns," Andy informed her as she now was standing in front of him.

"Hmm, not bad for executing a search warrant," she smirked. "I think a good reward for all that hard work is to let the team leave early," he reminded her. "Oh, I'll agree to that," she smiled and played with his tie. Andy smiled back at her, enjoying her flirtation in her office. "I was hoping you would," he flirted back to her and they stood there in her office.

Meanwhile, Provenza walked back into the Murder Room with Grady. Sharon glanced over through the blinds and saw them. Provenza looked into her office and they waited outside. "I wonder why he came back up here?" she said to Andy as she turned towards the door and exited her office. Andy took a deep breath and looked downward, making sure he was presentable before following Sharon out of her office.

"Grady?" Sharon called his name as she approached Provenza and him. "Ma'am, I just wanted to tell everyone thank you," Grady said in his southern drawl. Sharon didn't know why he was thanking them but she gladly accepted it.

"Lieutenant Provenza here told me that you arrested Charlie and his father," Grady added as he stood there in the middle of the room. "Yes, we did. And I wanted to thank you for your cooperation in this investigation, Grady. We wouldn't have known anything was wrong without you telling us," Sharon told him and he nodded in acknowledgement.

"Well, I better get going," Grady said and everyone in the room waved good bye to him. "Where are you going to go?" Andy asked him. "Um, well, I think I'm going to head back to Atlanta, is there a way I could see where my brother's remains are or anything with regards to that, you know, before I leave?" Grady asked.

Sharon looked around the room and her eyes landed on Provenza. She was at a loss here and didn't know what happened to Grady's brother after he was shot years ago. "Um, well Grady, you see, when someone is killed in an undercover operation, the body doesn't get released to the family as no one is supposed to know that the person was deep undercover," Provenza came up with his explanation quickly.

Sharon and Andy weren't sure if Grady would understand that explanation as they waited for him to follow what Provenza had just said. Sharon stepped in to try to help him understand. "Grady, your brother was a hero, and helped a lot of officers catch the bad guys, he was not alone, if that helps," she told him, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"Thank you, ma'am. Thank you everybody," Grady said and turned, walking out of the Murder Room with Provenza.

Sharon sighed along with almost everyone else in the room. She looked around at her team and couldn't have been prouder to command them. "Everyone, since you all did an outstanding job this morning, and solving the case, let's all go home early," Sharon smiled at her team and received a lot of thank you as she made her way back into her office.

"Thanks Lieutenant," Julio said as he walked past Andy and went to his desk to retrieve his things. "Why are you thanking him, Julio?" Amy asked in wonder. "Because I'm sure he buttered up the Commander when he was in her office earlier to let us leave," Julio smirked and looked at Andy.

"Hey guys, all I suggested was to let us leave early due to the fact that we had a very productive day today, and she agreed," Andy played it off like it was Sharon's idea. "Well, I for one am happy to be leaving early," Mike said as he gathered his suit jacket.

"Oh, really Tao, where are you heading off to?" Julio asked him. "I, uh, have a business meeting with the Badge of Justice director," Mike said, not wanting to say that in front of Andy.

"Oh geeze, really Mike?" Andy groaned. "See you tomorrow," Mike said and waved as he walked out of the office.

Andy shook his head as he turned around and gathered his things at his desk. "Badge, badge, badge," he mumbled as he grabbed his car keys.

Sharon exited her office and ran her hand along Andy's back. "Are you ready?" she asked, noticing he had been mumbling something. "Yeah," he smiled and the two of them walked out of the office.

They walked down the hallway towards the elevators. Sharon gave him a look before she spoke. "You're not still mad about the old man comment, are you?" she asked noticing his happy face from before was now replaced with a huff.

"What? No, I'm not, besides I thought I would show you that I'm not an old man tonight when we're alone," he muttered and smiled when he suggested the last part.

Sharon smirked as she stepped into the elevator. "Oh, I know for a fact you're not an old man," she said slyly and Andy wrapped his arm around her waist as the elevator doors closed.

They made their way out of the elevator and headed towards their cars. Sharon was holding Andy's hand as he walked her to her car. Sharon unlocked her car and Andy opened her driver side door. "I'll stop and pick up dinner for us," she whispered as they were standing close together.

"Okay," he smiled and leaned in to kiss her. "And I'll get Matthew," he said as he pulled away. Sharon nodded and caught her breath. "See you at home," she smiled, ran her hand down the front of his shirt, and slipped into the driver's seat.

Andy turned around and headed to his car, opening the driver's side door, and slipping inside. He then drove off towards Matthew's school.

Meanwhile, as Sharon drove towards the little Greek restaurant, her phone rang so she answered it hands free. "Hello?" she said, knowing it was Emily calling her. "Hey Mom, how's it going so far?" Emily asked as she was sitting backstage, after just finishing rehearsals.

"Oh, good. We are just leaving work now," she smiled as she turned the car down the street. "Wow, it's early isn't it?" Emily looked at her phone to check the time again. "You know sometimes we get out early," Sharon chuckled at her daughter.

"How was your last rehearsal?" Sharon asked. "It was good Mom. I think we will all be ready for tomorrow night," Emily sounded excited and Sharon was grateful for that after she decided to move back home.

"I'm happy for you," Sharon told her as she pulled up to the restaurant. "I know you'll be late coming home tonight," she added. "The party is till 10 so it won't be that late, Mom," Emily grinned. "Oh, and apparently one of the guys that's in the production likes me, well that's according to Karen," Emily added to her conversation with Sharon.

"Really?" Sharon smiled wondering how long Emily had been keeping that from her. "Yes Mom, and I just found out about it this morning during rehearsal, so don't think I've been keeping it from you," Emily knew her mother well.

"I wouldn't think of that at all," Sharon said innocently. "Okay Mom," Emily chuckled. There was a pause before Emily spoke again. "So, I take it because you got out early that you and Andy finished your case?" Emily said with a hopeful voice.

"Yes, we did honey so we will all be there tomorrow night," Sharon smiled. "Great!" Emily was excited even though this wasn't like her first performance ever, but she was still happy that her mom, Andy, and the rest of them were able to come.

"Okay Mom, I got to go!" Emily said as she saw Karen waiving to her from the back-stage area. "Okay sweetie, have fun and be safe tonight!" Sharon said and she could picture Emily rolling her eyes after she said that. "Yes Mom, love you, bye!" Emily said and hung up her phone.

Sharon stepped out of her car and entered the restaurant to place their order for dinner.

Meanwhile, Andy pulled up into the school parking lot and parked his car. He got out of the car and started walking towards the school building when he saw that same car he had seen the other night down the block.

The police detective in him told him to investigate further but the dad in him told him he needed to pick up Matthew instead. He sighed. The suspicious car was in the parking lot as well so maybe the owner of the car was picking up a student as well. Andy glanced over to the car again and didn't see anyone sitting inside.

He made his way into the school building and joined the other parents that were picking up their kids from the afterschool care program.

"Ah Lieutenant Flynn!" the principal greeted him as he was standing there waiting for Matthew. "Principal Gottardo, how are you?" he shook her hand. "I'm doing well, thank you," she answered him and then took a look around to see if Sharon was with him. "Your wife is not with you today?" she asked him.

Andy shook his head no. "No, she's picking up dinner while I get Matthew," he smiled. "Oh, very well, I'll just ask you the question I have," she told him. "Sure," he nodded and listened. "It has come to my attention that there is a letter going around through the fourth graders and I want to know if Matthew happened to show the letter to you or your wife," she asked him.

"Ah, not that I'm aware of. What's in this letter?" he asked her as they stood off to the side of the hallway. "It's about a boy, Joey Madson. He's in Matthew's class and I was just wondering if Matthew mentioned it to either you or your wife," she told him but Andy shook his head no.

"I can certainly ask him if he's seen it," Andy mentioned that to her. "That would be helpful," the principal said and then watched Andy walk away to greet Matthew further down the hallway.

"Hey buddy, how was school?" Andy asked as Matthew and he walked out of the building. "It was okay, Billy brought in his pet snake and showed it around to everyone during science class," Matthew smiled as they walked towards the car.

"Oh, a snake, huh?" Andy said as he opened the car door for Matthew. "Yep! It was really cool," Matthew said as he climbed in the back seat. "Well, don't tell your mother that, she hates snakes," Andy said as he handed Matthew's backpack to him and closed the door.

Andy walked around to the driver's side and looked around the parking lot but didn't see that car anymore. He then got in the car and drove Matthew and himself home.

"How are you feeling?" he asked as he came to a stop at the light. "Better," mumbled Matthew as he sat there looking out the window.

As he was driving he thought about asking Matthew if there was this letter that was going around his class. "Hey Matthew?" he asked to get his attention. "Huh," Matthew's response came out as the boy looked from the window to his dad.

"Have you seen anything about a boy in your class going around?" Andy asked as he thought of the best way to approach this topic with him. "Like what?" Matthew asked. "Like a letter saying something?" Andy furthered his question.

Matthew paused as he listened to his dad's question. The truth was that he did see some boys passing around something yesterday but he never saw it with his own eyes. His silence was noted by Andy. "Matthew?" he said his name.

Matthew saw his dad's eyes in the rear-view mirror looking back at him. "I saw something a couple of boys were passing around yesterday," he answered him quietly. "I don't know what it was, they never showed me," he added.

"They're always teasing someone in class even though the teacher has told these two boys to stop," he continued as Andy drove. "Have they teased you?" Andy asked him, hoping that they haven't. "No, I think they don't bother me because they know both you and Mom are police officers," Matthew said like it was no big deal.

"Hmm," Andy thought as he turned off of Sunset Boulevard and onto Fountain Avenue. They were about 15 minutes from home and he had just received a text alert saying that Sharon was on her way home from the restaurant.

Andy turned his thoughts to Sharon's Christmas gift. He didn't know what to get her and he was running out of time as Christmas was quickly approaching. He supposed he could never go wrong with jewelry, but he had gotten her jewelry last year.

He sighed as he pulled the car into their driveway. He was just opening the garage with the remote when he saw Sharon pull up behind him. "Good," he muttered to himself and then turned to his son after he had parked the car in the garage. "Matthew, can you help Mom with carrying the bags for dinner?" he asked and the boy nodded.

Matthew waited until the other car was parked next to them before he got out of the car and grabbed his backpack. He walked over to the other car's driver's seat and waited for Sharon to get out.

"Hi Mom!" he smiled and waited patiently. "Hey, my sweet boy, how are you feeling?" she asked as she stepped out of the car. "Better," he told her. She enveloped him in a small hug before releasing him. She glanced Andy's way and saw him smiling at her.

"Here, can you take this bag into the house for me?" Sharon asked Matthew as she held one of the bags out for him to take. Matthew grabbed it and then exited the garage with Sharon and Andy behind him.

"What are you thinking?" Sharon asked Andy as the two of them followed Matthew into the house. "Me?" Andy asked innocently as they watched Matthew unlock the back door. Sharon shook her head at her husband. "I was just trying to think of a gift for you for Christmas," Andy grinned.

"Hmm, well, I hope you know what you're getting me, because I already got you your present, well part of it anyway," Sharon flashed her sexy smile at Andy as she made her way into the house.

"How do you know I'll like it?" he asked as he made his way, following her. "Oh, trust me, you'll like it," she smiled again, placing the bag of food on the counter next to the one Matthew brought in.

Andy stood there looking at her while Matthew went to play with Moxie. Now he really needed to figure out a good present for her as he watched her get things ready for dinner.

TBC


	13. Chapter 13

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise

Chapter 13

During dinner, Sharon had asked Matthew what was new in school and Matthew proceeded to tell her about the snake that Billy had brought in to show everyone. "Oh, a snake," she had said as she glanced over at Andy who was amused by her facial expressions.

Once dinner was over, and the table was cleaned, Matthew worked on his homework, as Sharon sat with him at the table. "I'm going to catch a meeting," Andy leaned down and whispered into her ear. She glanced at the clock when he told her that and noted that it was a quarter to seven. "Okay, drive carefully and be safe," she told him as she kissed him.

"Always," he winked when they broke apart. He grabbed his car keys and headed out the back door. As Andy made his way towards the garage, he noted that Rusty was coming home. "Hey, there's dinner in the house if you want some," he told Rusty. Rusty nodded to him. "Where are you heading?" the kid asked. "A meeting," Andy shrugged his shoulders, giving Rusty a reassuring smile that everything was okay, and headed to his car.

Rusty waited to head into the house until Andy left. He had previous conversations with Andy about the AA meetings that he attends. He unlocked the back door and stepped inside. He was greeted by Moxie as he came into the kitchen.

"Hey," he gave a general wave at Sharon and proceeded to go into the refrigerator and pull out the leftovers from dinner. "I can fix you a plate, honey," Sharon smiled as she joined him at the counter. "I got it Mom," Rusty assured her. Sharon nodded as she watched Rusty fix himself a plate.

"So, you guys got a confession into the murder of ADA O'Malley. That must have felt good, right?" he asked her as they stood at the counter. Rusty placed his plate in the microwave and pressed a couple of numbers.

Sharon shrugged her shoulders. "Yes and no," she told him. He was confused by her statement. "I thought that's what you wanted, a confession," Rusty asked and pulled his plate out of the microwave when it beeped that the food was ready.

"Rusty, don't get me wrong, as a police officer you always want to get that confession to a crime," she informed him as they moved to the kitchen table. "But," Rusty said knowing that was coming next from his mom.

"But, you may not always understand the confession, or the crime, or why it was committed," she told him. Rusty took a bite of his food and thought about what she had just said. "So, what don't you understand about this guy's confession?" he asked her.

Sharon smiled but shook her head. "I can't discuss that with you," she told him in a polite way. "Why not?" he asked as he continued to eat. "Well, for one thing, you are on the prosecuting team, so that would be unfavorable to the defendant," Sharon informed him.

"But, you guys made a deal, so," Rusty said but Sharon cut him off. "So, that doesn't mean this won't go to a trial. Andrea is still going to prosecute him for murder," Sharon shook her head slightly. "And his father, depending on what the public defender does," she added.

"I thought this guy had like a big, corporate, lawyer?" Rusty asked as he sat back in the chair. "He was only saying that because he thought that would scare us into stalling," Sharon explained. Rusty huffed. "Well, he obviously didn't know who he was up against!" he smiled at his mom.

Sharon smiled back and then turned her attention to Matthew. "How are we doing here?" she asked him and he shrugged his shoulders. He had just finished his math homework and was putting on the finishing touches to his diorama. Matthew had previously thought it was due Monday but realized today while in school, the teacher reminded everyone that it was due tomorrow instead.

Meanwhile, at the AA meeting, Andy sat towards the front of the group this time. He and the other attendees were listening to a woman speak about her struggles with alcohol and how she had been sober for one week. Her sponsor was standing next to her as she spoke and after she was finished, the audience clapped for her.

After the discussions were over, the meeting continued with the usual cake and coffee. Andy went to grab a cup of coffee and at the same time he reached for an empty cup, someone was also reaching for the same cups and brushed his hand.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he heard a woman's voice next to him at the same time he said sorry. "Hi, I'm Angela," she smiled at Andy. "Andy," he nodded at her and waited for a clear shot to reach for an empty cup. He waited his turn for the coffee and then poured himself a cup. Angela turned around to talk to him again.

"So, I haven't seen you here before tonight, are you new to this whole thing?" she asked him. Andy chuckled. "No, actually I'm over 20 years sober," he flashed a smile as he sipped his coffee. "Oh, wow, that's wonderful," Angela said as she took a sip of coffee.

"How bout you?" Andy asked her, being polite. "Me? Well, let's see," she said and began to calculate the days in her head. "I am 15 weeks sober this Saturday," she laughed and it was a ditzy laugh from what Andy observed.

"Well, congratulations on that," he said, suddenly wanting to down his cup of coffee but it was too hot. "So, Andy, how about we celebrate our sobriety by getting a bite to eat after this meeting is over," she asked him and started to reach her hand out to touch his arm.

"Ah, sorry Angela, but I have to get home to my wife and kids," he smiled, and looked around the room. "You're married?" she said, questioning him. "Uh, yeah," he said, taking another sip of coffee, wishing his cup wasn't so full. "Don't you want to forget her for a while and come out with me?" Angela kept insisting.

"Um, no I'm good," Andy told her and walked away from her over to where there were other guys standing. "I saw Angela was talking to you," one of the sponsors said to Andy. "Yeah, what's her deal?" he asked. "She try's hitting on every guy here at the meeting and then leaves," he told Andy. Andy just looked at her from a safer distance and shook his head.

Angela had left the meeting with some other women in the group, which Andy was thankful for as he walked outside the church. Other people were leaving around the same time as him. He walked over to his car and drove home.

Meanwhile, across town, the pre-opening night party was coming to a close as Emily had been chatting with Richie for a majority of it. She liked him and from what she gathered, he really liked her too. They had discussed their parents and what they did, where they grew up, and other basic things people talk about.

Richie waited for Emily to gather her bag before walking her out to their cars. "I'm just over here," she pointed in the direction of where her car was parked and he walked her over to it. "I'm glad we had a chance to talk," she said to him. "Me too," he said, nervously.

"Maybe we can grab a bite to eat once production is over?" he offered as she opened her car door. "Maybe," she smiled as she got in her car. "Drive carefully," he said, smiling at her. "I will," she smiled. "You too," she said quickly as he started to walk away from her car. He turned around and gave her a wave. She waved good bye and closed her door, starting her car, and drove herself home.

Back at the Flynn house, Matthew was already in his pajamas and he had somehow convinced Sharon to read him a bed time story. That's where Andy had found them. Instead of being in Matthew's room, they were all in their room. Moxie was on the bed with Sharon and Matthew as Matthew was listening closely to the story that Sharon was reading.

Andy smiled at the sight before him. Sharon looked up from the book and noticed him standing there. "Don't stop on my account," he held up his hand as he watched them. "Come join us?" she asked and he gladly accepted her offer. "Let me just wash my hands and I'll be right there," he told her and quickly washed his hands in the bathroom.

He stepped out and moved to the side of the bed, easily scooting up to Sharon's side. Sharon continued to read the story to them both now.

Sharon was in the middle of the second chapter of _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone_ when she glanced over at Matthew and saw he was sleeping. She then turned her head to look at Andy. He was looking at her and gave her his sheepish grin. "Don't stop," he whispered to her. "Matthew's sleeping," she whispered back to him.

He leaned over her body to see and nodded his head. He slowly got up and walked around the bed to wake him up. "Hey buddy," Andy said, gently shaking Matthew's shoulder. Matthew woke up groggily and rubbed his eyes. "Time to get in your own bed," Andy said, and Matthew rolled off the bed and started to walk out of the room.

Sharon had to laugh at how sleepy Matthew was as he walked out of their room, with Andy following him and Moxie. She proceeded to get out of bed, making her way to their bathroom and proceeded to get herself ready for bed. They all had an early morning today and she for one was looking forward to falling asleep in Andy's arms.

As Andy was tucking Matthew into his bed, he saw headlights through one of Matthew's windows. He knew Emily must have gotten home. He glanced at his watch, noting the time, and kissed Matthew on his forehead. "Goodnight buddy," he closed the door and waited in the hallway as he heard Emily open and close the back door.

He decided to go downstairs for a glass of water. As he made his way towards the kitchen, he heard Emily humming as she was in the kitchen getting herself something to drink as well. "Hey," he said as he stepped inside the room. He noticed that greeting had startled Emily as she turned around.

"Didn't mean to startle you," he quietly said as he grabbed a glass and walked over to the refrigerator. "Oh, you didn't," she started to say. "Well, yeah you did," she changed her mind and smiled. "I take it rehearsal went well?" Andy asked as he took a swallow of water.

"Oh, really well," she smiled thinking of Richie. "And the party went well too I take it?" he commented and noticed that Emily was thinking about something or someone else. "Yes, it did," she just smiled and turned around to head upstairs. "Good night Andy!" she called out. "Good night," he mumbled and shook his head, finishing the glass of water.

He made his way back upstairs and noticed that Emily's room still had the light off. He then heard Emily's voice as she giggled and spoke to her mom. Andy walked into their room and this time it was Emily who was sitting on the edge of their bed talking to her mom, about a boy, from what he could gather in between the swooning.

Sharon smiled as Emily spoke about Richie. She saw Andy step back into their room and go into their bathroom. "I'm glad you had a nice time tonight, sweetie," Sharon squeezed Emily's hand and then watched her stand up. "Good night Mom!" Emily smiled and left their room.

Andy popped his head out of the bathroom and looked at Sharon. She turned her head to look at him and noticed he had already changed into pajama pants and a white t-shirt. "So, what was all the giggling about?" he asked her.

Sharon stood up and joined him at the doorway of their bathroom. "Oh, she was talking to one of the boys at the party tonight. Turns out the boy has been wanting to talk to Emily since she started with the group, but was shy," Sharon explained as she was brushing her teeth at the sink.

"A boy, huh?" Andy said as he watched Sharon from his sink. She looked up at him and saw his fatherly instincts starting to take over at the mention of a boy being interested in his step-daughter. She ran her hand along his jaw, which made him focus on her eyes.

"I'll run a background check on him," he muttered as he ran his hands over her arms. Sharon chuckled. "You will not do that!" she shook her head. "Ok, fine," he thought and then continued. "I'll get Mike to run one," he added as Sharon laid her head on his shoulder, sighing as she listened to him.

"I don't want any one of my Lieutenants breaking the law by running a background check on our daughter's potentially new boyfriend," she grabbed a hold of his hand and led him out of the bathroom towards their bed.

Sharon pulled back the covers and Andy helped her with that on his side of the bed. "How was your meeting?" she asked as she slipped under the covers. "Fine," he grunted as he joined her in bed. Andy didn't want to mention what had happened at the meeting with that Angela person practically hitting on him. Sharon scooted herself over to him and she settled into his arms.

"I've been waiting to do this all day today," she sighed into his neck as she snuggled with him. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her to him. "So, everything went okay at the Doctor with Matthew?" he asked as he relaxed.

"Just an ear infection, hopefully the antibiotics help clear it up for good," Sharon whispered into his neck and kissed him there. She traced the scar from his blood clot with a kiss. "I love you," he kissed the top of her head.

Sharon moved her head to focus on his face. She leaned down and kissed his lips. "I love you too," she said as they broke apart from their kiss. Andy moved his body so that Sharon was now underneath him. She giggled as he made his move. He leaned down and kissed her passionately.

She ran her hands underneath his shirt and over his muscles. He took his time unbuttoning her sleep shirt as he kissed her along her collarbone, slowly making his way down her chest. She moved his head back up to her face. "I promised you I would show you that I'm not an old man," he mumbled as he kissed her again.

She grinned. "It's pretty evident that you are not an old man," she ran her hands towards the drawstring of his pajama pants. "I just want to remind you," he muttered as he kissed his way down her body. "And I can keep reminding you," he added. "You'll get no complaints from me," she smiled, and they enjoyed themselves.

Hours later, Andy rolled over to look at the clock on Sharon's nightstand. Sharon had fallen asleep after they had made love. She was still asleep, curled onto her side now after Andy had moved. He had been lying awake, thinking about a lot of things.

He didn't want to get out of bed because he knew if he did, Sharon would wake up and he didn't want to disturb her. He laid back down on his back and Sharon stirred, curling back up to his body. She ran her hand over his chest, making tiny circles with her finger, which usually relaxes him.

Even in her sleep, she's able to help him and he didn't know how she did that. He sighed and turned his head to look at her. Her eyes were closed still but she had a smile on her face. "You can't sleep?" she mumbled to him. "No," he sighed again as he laid there.

She continued to run her hand over his chest. "Is there something bothering you?" she asked as she was now awake too. He moved her so that she was now laying on top of him. "I love you, babe," he started to say, and Sharon was wondering what was wrong.

"Is everything good between us?" he hesitated a few seconds after he last spoke and now she was starting to worry. "Andy, you and me, we've never been better," she told him as she propped herself up on his chest. "Is that what's keeping you up?" she looked into his eyes.

After a long pause of silence, he answered her. "No one has ever treated me or taken care of me the way that you have," his voice hitched in the middle of him speaking. "Oh Andy," Sharon responded and ran her hand down his face, trying to sooth him.

"I still think I'm way out of your league and wonder what you ever saw in me to begin with," he confessed. She slowly shook her head. "You are not out of my league, not by a long shot, so let's just get that straight, okay?" she smiled at him and gently kissed his lips.

"And I'll keep reminding you of that, and if I have to do it every day, I will," she added and wiped the tears away from his face. Sharon again wondered what had brought this self-doubt to the surface again with him.

She laid her head on his chest and listened to him breathing for a few minutes before she asked him again. "Did something happen at your meeting last night?" she whispered. How was he supposed to respond to that? 'Yeah, some woman was hitting on me?' or 'A woman asked me out and to forget about you and the kids for a while?'.

Those didn't seem like a good answer currently or at any time for that matter. When he didn't answer her, she probed him again. "Andy?" she said, and this time added the same circular motion on his chest with her hand as before.

"There was this woman at the meeting last night, and she was speaking about her struggle with sobriety and that just got me thinking about my struggles when I first started and then I thought about you," he finally said after moments of silence.

TBC


	14. Chapter 14

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise

Chapter 14

Andy was still lying awake in their bed when the sun started to peak from the horizon. Sharon stirred next to him and draped an arm over his chest. They had a good talk during the middle of the night, but Sharon could still tell something else was bothering Andy.

He leaned his head over and kissed her. "Good morning," he mumbled into his kiss. "Morning," she smiled, and he returned his sheepish grin. "It's still early, so why don't you go back to bed, I'm going to take Moxie for a walk," Andy told her as he stood up.

Sharon stretched her arms over her head which in turn, moved the blankets further down on her body. Andy saw that and changed his mind. "On second thought, I always loved looking at you in the morning light," he crawled over to her on the bed and kissed her again.

Forgetting about what had kept him up after Sharon and he talked, he was now focusing on her. They made love again and ended their love-making in the shower.

The water dripped down onto the floor as Andy stood at the mirror with a towel around his waist. He was shaving his face as Sharon came back into the room after gathering her clothes for the day. Andy finished shaving as was about to go to their closet to pick out his suit when Sharon wrapped her arms around him from behind and placed a kiss on his back between his shoulder blades.

"I love you," she told him, and he turned around in her arms. "I love you too," he whispered and kissed her on her lips. They broke apart and he gestured towards the door. "I'm going to let you get dressed in here while I figure out what I'm going to wear today," he smiled.

Sharon nodded, worried about him and the fact that he seemed to be struggling with something again. She figured or at least she had hoped that if it was true with what he had told her early in the morning, he'd be able to battle it, just like he had in the past, and of course with her help.

Andy was just pulling up his suspenders when the bathroom door opened again, and Sharon walked back into their room. She was wearing a purple blazer with a black top and black pants. She glanced over at the clock in the room and noted that it was almost 7 o'clock.

Andy fixed his purple tie, placed his gun in his holster, and dragged his arms through his black suit jacket. "I'm going to wake Matthew up, and take Moxie for a walk, oh and I'll fix you some coffee too," he walked over to her and she adjusted his tie, which made him laugh.

"Okay," she watched him exit their room as she finished getting herself ready. She decided to go back into their closet and pick out the outfits that they were going to wear tonight to Emily's performance. She picked out a nice, black dress for herself and hung it up on the hook inside the door. She turned and looked for a black suit for Andy. She added a grey vest and a black and grey striped tie. She hung that up next to her dress and was satisfied with her choices for both.

Andy had woken Matthew up, telling him to get dressed and ready for school. He motioned for Moxie to go downstairs with him and the dog followed him. Andy stopped in the kitchen and turned the coffee maker on. He then walked to the backdoor and pulled the leash out, grabbing a plastic bag on the way out of the house.

Moxie seemed eager to go on his walk this morning. When they got to the front of the house, Moxie turned right to go down their street. "Okay, we'll go this way," Andy agreed with Moxie and the two started their walk.

Back in the house, Matthew was getting himself ready for school and Sharon peeked her head in his room. "How are you feeling this morning?" she asked as she leaned against the door frame. Matthew shrugged his shoulders.

Sharon shook her head at that answer. What was with her boys this morning, she wondered. "Do your ears hurt?" she asked, trying to prod for information. "No," Matthew muttered and got his shoes on. "I have gym today," he said and gathered his clothes for gym in his duffle bag. "Okay," Sharon replied and the two of them headed downstairs.

True to his word, Andy had made coffee for her before he took the dog out. She smiled at that small gesture and asked Matthew to grab his cereal while she fixed a cup for herself.

Back outside, Moxie was sniffing the grass while Andy stood at the corner of their street. They had made their way around the whole block before Moxie decided to do his business. As Andy stood there waiting for Moxie to be done, he thought about Sharon's present.

He had seen something that he had thought she would like when they were both at the mall shopping for the grandsons two weeks ago. She had slipped into one store, leaving Andy waiting outside for her. He decided to walk across the way to a jewelry store and looked at a necklace that was in a display case.

It was beautiful and exquisite, just like Sharon. He didn't buy it then but was going to go back if he couldn't think of anything else to get her. Moxie tugged at his arm, indicating that he was finished, and they turned down their street.

About two seconds later a big blast happened down the block, which startled both Andy and Moxie. Moxie started barking and Andy looked down the block to see a car engulfed in flames. "Shit," he muttered to himself.

Meanwhile, that blast had waken the rest of the neighborhood. Sharon heard it while she was in their kitchen and Matthew looked up and over at her. Emily came running down the stairs. "What was that?" she yelled and opened the front door.

Andy was running up the sidewalk with Moxie. "Here, take him inside, and call 911!" he gave orders to Emily and handed Moxie's leash to her before turning around and heading down the block.

"Mom!" Emily shouted when she turned around and was startled when she came face to face with her mother. "Stay inside with the dog and your brother, I'm calling it in," she told her calmly and ran out the front door, dialing her phone at the same time.

She ran down the sidewalk after Andy and shouted his name. "Andy!" she was a few feet behind him when he turned around to look at her. "I notified the fire department," she told him as she continued to catch up to him.

By the time they reached the car, other neighbors were already outside and they could hear the sirens getting closer to them. The car was fully engulfed in flames at this point and Andy couldn't see if there was anyone inside or not.

Patrol cars started to arrive at the scene and Andy directed them to what they should do. The fire department arrived seconds later, and the chief jumped out of the truck, asking what had happened, while the rest of them started to put the fire out.

Sharon spoke to Chris and his wife, the neighbors down the street from them, as she watched Andy speak to the Fire Chief. "Did you guys see anything that would be suspicious regarding the car?" she asked.

Both Chris and his wife shook their heads no. "We were just heading outside to go to work when, literally, the car just bursted," Chris stated. "No activity suspicious activity before the blast? Around the car or maybe earlier?" she asked them, and Chris shook his head no again.

"I saw your husband walking the dog when I took out the trash this morning, but I didn't see anyone else," Chris answered her, and Sharon looked from him to Andy. She walked away from the couple and told one of the patrol officers to start interviewing the rest of the neighbors. She then made her way over to Andy.

"I asked the Gebbers if they saw anything, but Chris said he just saw you walking Moxie and that was it," she told him as they both watched the fire being put out. "Did you see anything suspicious Andy, while you were walking the dog?" she asked him and reached for his right hand with her hand.

"Other than this car, no, nothing happened on our walk," Andy said thinking back to a few minutes earlier on the walk. "I didn't see anyone running from this area or nothing else like that," he added.

"Who does the car belong to?" she asked. "I've seen this car around a lot. It looked suspicious to me the other day when I took Moxie for a walk at night. That's when I ran into Chris and asked him about it. He told me that he thought it belonged to one of the Henderson's kids," Andy told her.

Just then, a teenage boy came running out of the house across the street. "Hey! What happened to my car!" he yelled. "Maybe he's the owner?" Andy muttered to Sharon as they made their way over to the other side of the street.

"LAPD is this your car?" Andy asked the kid and he nodded yes. "My car, my parents are going to kill me when they find out," Billy Henderson stated and ran his hands through his hair. "What's your name?" Sharon asked him. "Billy, Billy Henderson," the kid stated.

Sharon noticed that Billy was wearing a green t-shirt and black, baggy jeans. "Billy, how old are you?" Sharon asked. "I'm twenty," he stated as he started to play things much cooler. "You said you guys were LAPD?" he asked, nervously.

Before Sharon or Andy could ask him further questions, the Fire Chief called them both over to the car. Sharon looked at Andy before joining him where the chief was standing.

"I think we may have found the cause of the fire," he pointed to the bottle that one of his men was holding.

"A Molotov cocktail?" Andy asked. "Your guess Lieutenant," the chief stated. Sharon looked at Andy. "You said you didn't see anything suspicious while you walked Moxie," Sharon re-iterated what he had told her before.

"Sharon, the only thing that's been suspicious is this car. I noted the other night and saw it yesterday when I went to pick up Matthew at school," Andy told her.

"We are going to turn this investigation over to the LAPD, Commander," the chief informed Sharon and she nodded in acknowledgment. "From the looks of it, this isn't arson," he added and walked away from them.

Sharon looked across the street and saw Billy Henderson pacing back and forth on the front grass. She then saw a younger boy, like Matthew's age, walk over to him. She noted that the younger brother was wearing the same uniform shirt that Matthew wears.

"I think Billy's younger brother goes to the same school as Matthew," she pointed to the boy and Andy looked over. "Which would explain why you saw this car in the school's parking lot yesterday," she added.

A patrol officer walked over to Sharon and Andy to inform them that a detective from Hollywood Division was on their way over to the scene. "Oh great, we'll be lucky if they can find their way over here," Andy huffed. He didn't have any love/loss for Hollywood Division. Sharon glared at him and he knew not to talk anymore.

"Give them my card, I'd like to be kept updated if they find anything," she told the patrol officer and then grabbed Andy's hand and walked with him back towards their house.

"Andy, I know you don't care for Hollywood Division, but," she started to say but he cut her off. "Yes, I know, keep it to ourselves because you're a commander now and I need to stay in line," he mumbled the last part which Sharon didn't like.

He knew he was in trouble when she stopped walking about a few steps away from their driveway and placed her hands on her hips. "Is that what you think?" she asked standing there. He thought he should apologize and do it quickly. "Sharon, that's not what I meant," he said and then realized that still wasn't an apology.

"Oh", and what did you mean to say?" she asked softly. "I'm sorry," was the only thing Andy said at that moment and Sharon started to walk up their driveway. Andy was right behind her and she was just about to give him a piece of her mind when she noticed all her children standing on the front porch.

"Matthew are you ready for school?" she asked as she entered the house, walking past them. "Yes," he said, wondering why she was in a hurry. Matthew followed his mom into the kitchen as she grabbed her purse and bag, and her keys.

"Make sure you have everything, Dad is taking you to school this morning," she told him, and he stood there wondering what happened. Sharon stopped to look at him for a moment. "Did you take your antibiotic this morning?" she asked and didn't know if he did or not during the chaos.

"Yes," he said, and she saw Andy standing in the hallway now. "Good, remember to have a good day and we have Emily's performance tonight," she said quickly before she walked towards Emily, who was now standing in the kitchen.

"What just happened?" Andy heard Rusty ask. "I screwed up," Andy mumbled and ran after Sharon as she was leaving the house. He brushed past Emily and got to the back door as Sharon was walking through the backyard.

"Sharon!" he yelled, and she hesitated to stop. He came up to her. "Sharon," he said and reached for her hand. She didn't want to look at him but turned her head around and met his eyes. That's when all of last night and this morning flashed through her mind. 'What was she doing?' she thought to herself.

"Andy, I'm sorry for storming out like that," she started to say. "No, I'm the one who's sorry for saying that in the first place," he told her and held onto her hand. "That sounded like I resent your promotion and that couldn't be farther from the truth, Sharon," his voice catching like it did earlier.

"I know you don't," she reassured him by running her free hand along his jaw as she looked into his eyes. "You are my biggest cheerleader," she added, chuckling at that statement and he smiled. He pulled her into his embrace and they stood there for a moment.

"When I heard that blast I thought the worst," she muttered into his shoulder. "Andy, do you really think it was just a Molotov cocktail? Or do you think it's something else, much bigger?" she asked as he held her. "I don't know. Something tells me this isn't the end of it," he simply stated and then brushed his lips against her forehead.

A noise came from behind them and Andy turned around seeing Matthew standing there with his backpack. He turned back around to face Sharon. "It's silly for us to take two cars this morning," he informed her, and she nodded to him.

"I'll drive," she smirked, and he grinned. "Yes ma'am," he kissed her again and ran back inside to grab his things.

She motioned for Matthew to come over to her and he did, carrying his diorama for school along with his backpack. "Is everything okay, Mom?" he asked her, and she placed her hand on his shoulder. "Yes," she answered him and then heard the back door close.

Andy joined the two of them in the garage and Sharon got in the driver's seat with Matthew getting in the back seat and Andy opening the passenger side door. After everyone was ready, Sharon backed out of the driveway and onto the street. She noted that the police were still down at the other end of the street and drove the other way to go to Matthew's school.

TBC


	15. Chapter 15

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise

Chapter 15

The morning at the Murder Room went by slowly for Sharon as she was called into a meeting in Chief Mason's office as soon as they arrived at work. He wanted to discuss the latest case that they solved yesterday along with why she had insisted on patrol giving her card to the detective from Hollywood Division this morning.

"Sir, Lieutenant Flynn and I were the first to arrive on the scene, which was down the block from our house," she stated. "I am in no way stepping on anyone's toes here. Hollywood Division can keep the investigation, my team is fine with that," she added as Mason watched her.

"Well, Hollywood is screaming that Major Crimes is butting themselves into their jurisdiction," Mason stated as he sat back in his chair. Sharon simply shook her head. Perhaps Andy was right with his disgust of Hollywood Division, she was beginning to agree with that.

"You know that's not true," she calmly told him as she sat there across from his desk. "I know that Sharon, just let them do their investigation," Mason instructed her, and Sharon took a deep breath.

Meanwhile, in the Murder Room, things were going as equally slow for the rest of the team. Provenza was sitting at his desk, working on a new crossword puzzle. Amy was looking something up on the computer regarding a previous case that she was coming up to testify in. Mike and Buzz were discussing the latest tech news about Badge of Justice, and they tried to keep their conversation to a low, but Andy still heard bits and pieces as he sat at his desk.

"Really guys? That's what your discussing?" he shook his head and returned to his phone. He was looking up different ideas to get Sharon. He looked at his watch and then glanced at her office. He turned back to his phone and that's when he heard Sharon's heals clicking against the floor, indicating she was back from her meeting.

She walked past his desk and he saw the disgusted look on her face as she did. "I'm beginning to agree with your assumption of Hollywood Division," she muttered as she walked by him. He couldn't help himself but chuckle at her statement. He followed her into her office but left the door open.

She huffed as she sat down in her chair. "I take it your meeting didn't go so well?" he asked and stood to the side of her desk. "Mason was pleased with our solving of our latest case and praised everyone for the discovery of those weapons. He sent our names up for a citation for that," she told him as she sat there with her arms crossed.

"Well, that's good," he gestured and leaned over her desk and paused waiting to hear the rest of the story. "What made you agree with me and my depiction of Hollywood Division?" he dared asking her when she didn't volunteer it.

"Huh," she huffed and sat up straightly. "Would you believe the audacity of one of their detectives saying that Major Crimes is butting into their investigation, just because I told one of the patrol officers to hand the detective my card?" she told him.

"That's absurd!" Andy stated and shook his head. "Why would we take over their investigation?" he asked.

"Who's taking over an investigation?" Provenza stated as he walked up to Sharon's office. Andy turned around to see his partner standing there. "Hollywood thinks we are because Sharon gave her card to one of the patrol officers at the scene of the car exploding," Andy explained.

"Those bastards would be so lucky. They wouldn't be able to find their own shadow if it committed a crime!" Provenza stated which made Andy laugh as he turned around to look at Sharon. She was not amused by her two Lieutenants.

Andy and Provenza stopped laughing and Provenza cleared his throat. They both stood there and looked at Sharon. "Anything happen while I was in Mason's office?" she asked them. "Ah, no," Andy answered. "Nothing Commander," Provenza stated.

Sharon nodded and glanced at her clock. It was closer to lunch time than she thought. "Why don't we break for lunch now, gentlemen," she suggested and they both agreed. "I can run down to the sandwich shop that you like, and get you a salad if you want," Andy suggested, and Sharon agreed.

Provenza and Andy left Sharon's office and walked towards Provenza's desk. "Do you want anything from there?" Andy asked him. "No, Patrice made my lunch this morning," Provenza gruffed as he pulled out the cooler from underneath his desk and placed it on top of his desk.

"I wouldn't laugh too hard Flynn. I know the Commander has you eating healthier, again," Provenza quipped to his friend. Amy smiled and so did Julio, but his came out as a laugh which he quickly stifled.

Andy threw a glare towards Julio. "Does anyone want anything from the sandwich shop outside?" Andy asked and got negative responses from everyone else, so he left the office and headed down to the outside.

He made his way across the street and entered the sandwich shop. He was surprised they were not busy and ordered right away. As he waited for the order to be ready, he pulled out his phone and texted Sharon. 'Just waiting for our order. I got you your salad and I may have gotten myself one too' he sent his message to her.

She replied right away. 'Good, have I told you that I love you?' he read her message. He smiled, and they called out his order number. He picked up the bag of food and headed outside.

He was waiting to cross the street when someone walked up next to him. He could tell the person was staring at him. Andy's hair at the back of his neck stood up and he glanced next to him to see who was there.

"Hi Andy," Bill Croelick was grinning back at him. "You have got to be kidding me," Andy gritted his teeth as he grabbed Croelick by his jacket and walked him across the street. "Hey, wait a second! Wait a second!" Croelick protested as Andy placed him on a bench outside the PAB.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Andy demanded to know as Croelick sat there looking at him. "It's nice to see you too," Croelick straightened his jacket out from where Andy had grabbed him. He then held up his hands. "Now look, I am not here for anything bad, I was just walking down the street and I thought I would say hi," he stated to Andy, but Andy wasn't buying it.

"You expect me to believe that?" Andy responded, arms crossed, still holding the bag of food. "You might want to get back upstairs, I know Sharon gets hungry," he pointed to the bag and smiled. Andy wanted to wipe that smug smile off his face, but he wasn't going to stoop to that level, at least not yet anyway.

"I'm going to go on my way. It was nice to see you Andy, as always," Croelick stood up from the bench and started to walk away. Andy stood there watching him and sighed. 'What else was going to pop up today?' he thought to himself as he headed back into the building.

After he showed the officer his badge, Andy made his way towards the elevators in the lobby. When he turned the corner, he saw Jack standing there, also waiting for an elevator. Andy looked up to the ceiling and sighed.

"Andy," Jack snarled as Andy stepped towards the elevator banks. "Jack," Andy gritted his teeth. Jack glanced down to see what Andy was carrying and all he could tell was that it was a brown bag. "Sharon not making you lunch anymore? Better get used to it!" Jack laughed and stepped into the elevator.

Andy hesitated before he stepped in the same elevator and noticed that the button for the third floor was lit. Andy pressed the button for the ninth and leaned up against the side of the elevator.

"For your information, Jack, we had a busy morning and didn't have time to make lunch," Andy gave him a smug grin. Jack stared at him. "Those will change too, after the honeymoon is over," Jack muttered, and Andy was ready to punch him right there.

"Well, I myself had a busy morning as well, she wouldn't let me out of bed, but I told her I needed to make the dough!" Jack grinned, and Andy just shook his head. 'Why was this elevator taking so long' he thought to himself.

The elevator dinged and opened its doors on the third floor. Jack stepped out and turned around to address Andy again. "Oh, I plan on being at Emily's performance tonight. See you then," he waved, and the doors closed.

Andy stepped out at the ninth floor and made his way to the office. He walked in and spotted Sharon in her office. The rest of the office was quiet as he made his way and opened her door. He dropped the bag on her table in the corner. "You will not believe who I ran into while getting lunch," he huffed and sat down on one of the chairs.

Sharon looked at her husband and shook her head. "Jack was standing downstairs when I came back from the sandwich shop!" Andy informed her, but she wasn't that surprised. "He went to the third floor," he added. She knew Jack bothered him as she grabbed his hand and gently stroked it. She wondered what he was doing on the third floor but dismissed that wonder for now.

Andy half smiled at Sharon. "I was about ready to punch him when he was in the elevator, but I didn't," he said and took out both salads for them. "No this is even better, when I was waiting to walk across the street, I ran into Croelick," Andy informed her as he handed her a plastic fork.

Sharon gave him a worried look as she accepted the utensil from him. "I didn't punch him either if that's what your worried about. I kept my cool, like I promised you," Andy assured her. "Did he want anything?" she asked as she opened her salad.

Andy threw down his plastic fork and sat back in his chair. "No, he just wanted to say hi," he shook his head. "I'm telling you Sharon, he's been up to something," he looked at her as she started to eat.

"The nerve of him to actually come up next to me on the street and just say hi!" he still sat there not touching his food while Sharon ate.

"Honey, he's doing that to get a rise out of you," she said and grabbed his hand again. "Are you going to eat?" she asked him when she noticed he hadn't touched his food yet.

Andy picked up his fork and opened his salad. He started to poke and move his salad around while Sharon still watched him.

"Andy," she got his attention as they sat there. "I know you're bothered by him," she started to say, and Andy huffed at her remark. "Do you think he was following you?" she asked, and he thought about that and shook his head no.

"The only thing that's been suspicious this past week was that car from this morning. It caught my eye the other night because all the windows were tinted, and then I saw it again at Matthew's school," he stated. "And then this morning it blows up," Sharon finished.

"And then Croelick show's up, just out of nowhere again, like before," Andy added to their discussion and pushed himself away from the table and stood up. This action startled Sharon a little bit as she watched him start to walk towards her windows that overlook the city.

She walked over and stood behind him. She reached her hand and ran it down his back. "How can I help you?" she whispered. He didn't answer her, a repeat of this morning she thought.

"I don't think he was involved in this morning's car blast," he finally muttered and turned around to face Sharon. "You heard the fire chief, a bottle was discovered underneath the car," he added.

"Would a Molotov cocktail bottle still be intact once it explodes?" Sharon asked, knowing the answer already. "No, it's a breakable glass bottle, it smashes on impact causing an immediate fireball explosion," Andy answered, and she was impressed.

"How do you know so much about this?" she asked him. "From that time, we were assigned to the terrorism task force," Andy reminded her, and she nodded her head.

"Croelick's not the type of person to use a Molotov cocktail to start something. That's for a quick getaway, Croelick likes to watch his fire be born and grow," Andy looked at Sharon.

"I could look up the final report of the investigation from Hollywood Division once that is finished. We could see if it was indeed a Molotov cocktail or something else that started that fire explosion," Sharon suggested.

"Ok," Andy agreed and then moved back to the table to finish their lunch. "How do we make your ex jealous tonight?" he asked, and she almost choked on her food. She threw him a look after she wiped her mouth.

Meanwhile, back at the Henderson's residence, Billy was sitting in the basement on his phone talking to another person. "Hey, what the heck man, I told you I didn't mess with your thing and you went and blew up my car?" Billy said on the phone.

"Yeah well that wasn't my fault I dropped that bag. And now the cops are involved," he added and started to pace. "Look, if you didn't do that then who did?" he added after listening to the other person.

"No, they don't know. They think I'm at school," he sat down on the couch and looked at the table in front of him. There were plastic bags filled with small pills. "I got your bags ready so come get them," Billy stated to the person.

"I can't deliver them because of my car exploding this morning!" he shouted into the phone. Just then he heard the back door opening and someone walking into the kitchen. "I got to go man," he hung up the phone and placed all the small bags into a lock box. He took the lock box and placed it inside the closet downstairs and then headed up the stairs to see who was home.

"Dad, what are you doing home?" he asked his father as he saw him standing in the kitchen. "Chris Gebber called me after your car exploded this morning? Why didn't you tell me or your mother about this?" his dad asked him.

"I didn't want you to worry. The police are investigating it, and the insurance company came out already to look at it," Billy explained. "Did you go to school this morning?" his dad asked him. "Yes, I rode my bike there," he lied and went back down the basement.

It was later that afternoon at the PAB, the team was getting ready to call it quits for the weekend. They were not on call, so everyone had plans. Provenza was telling them that he and Patrice were going to Santa Monica for the weekend. There was some art festival there that she wanted to go to and he was getting dragged along with her.

"Lieutenant, what are your plans?" Buzz asked Andy as he sat at his desk. "Emily's performance is tonight, opening night and we are going as a family to the event," Andy said proudly.

"Is Jack going to be there?" he heard Provenza asked him. Andy sighed before he answered. "Yes, Emily invited him," he simply stated and then Sharon walked out of her office.

"Alright everyone, Chief Mason has said that we are not on call this weekend, so have a good night," she said to the team and then walked over to Andy's desk. "You ready to go?" she asked him. "Yes," he said with a nod. She gave him a smile and went to her office to gather her things.

"Hey Flynn!" Provenza got his attention after he watched Sharon walk into her office. "What?" Andy said, annoyed at his partner from his earlier comment.

"Don't do something stupid tonight when you see Jack there, I don't want to be called in the middle of the night to post your bail or something," he pointed his finger at Andy and Andy dismissed his words.

"That's not going to happen, besides, you don't think Sharon would bail me out?" he questioned his friend as he started to walk away from him.

Provenza gathered his suit jacket and looked at Andy. "No," he stated and then left the office.

"Ready?" Sharon said to Andy. It was both a question and a statement to him. "Yeah," he said and turned to look at her. He wrapped his arm around her as they walked out of the office and towards the elevators together.

"Would you bail me out if something happened?" he asked as the elevator doors closed. "It depends," she answered him as they rode down to the parking garage. She knew that answer would get him thinking.

"Depends on what?" he asked as he stepped out first and waited for her. "Depends on what you and Provenza did," she smirked as they walked to their car. "Ha ha, no I'm serious here, would you bail me out if I got in trouble?" he asked her again and opened the drivers side car door for her.

She got in but didn't answer him. He waited with the door open for her to answer. "Yes," she gave him her answer and he closed her door. Walking around to the passenger side, he got in and closed his door.

"Are Nicole and them meeting us at the theater tonight?" she asked as she pulled out of the garage and drove them over to pick Matthew up at school. "Yes, she texted me earlier and said that Dean has a meeting and he will be getting out later, so they are just going to meet us there instead," Andy informed her.

"Okay," she smiled and grabbed Andy's left hand as she drove. He relaxed and watched her drive.

TBC


	16. Chapter 16

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise

Chapter 16

"Mom!?" Sharon heard as she got changed into the dress she was going to wear tonight. She poked her head out of the closet to see Andy tying his tie, standing in front of the mirror in their bedroom. "Can you go see what he wants?" she asked him nicely.

"Got it," he flashed his smile and left their room. He walked towards the hallway bathroom where Matthew was trying to finish getting ready but had some clothing issues.

"What's up?' Andy asked him as he saw him struggling with his shirt and tie. "I'm having a hard time lining up these buttons and I can't tie this tie," Matthew said, frustrated to say the least.

"Hmm, well let me see what I can do here," Andy took over and was able to get the buttons in order and fix Matthew's tie for him. "There you go," he said, and Matthew looked in the mirror. "Thanks Dad," Matthew smiled and then walked out of the bathroom.

"You're welcome," Andy said as he watched him walk down the hallway into his room.

Andy returned to their bedroom to see Sharon putting on the finishing touches to her wardrobe. She was placing the diamond earrings that Andy had bought her. He stepped behind her and when she was done, he helped her with the diamond necklace that matched the earrings.

"You look absolutely breathtaking," he whispered into her ear and she blushed. "And that's how you make Jack jealous," she smiled and turned to run her hand down Andy's jaw, lightly caressing it. "You look devilishly handsome," she told him, and he grinned.

Sharon and Andy made their way downstairs where Matthew and Rusty were waiting for them. "Okay, is everyone ready?" Sharon asked her boys and both Matthew and Rusty nodded yes.

"How do I look?" Matthew asked Sharon as she was putting things she needed in her small black purse. "Oh, you look very handsome," she smiled, and Matthew smiled too. She grabbed the bouquet of roses for Emily from the kitchen counter.

"Okay, I have the tickets and the car keys," Andy said as he patted his coat pocket for his keys and placed the envelope with the tickets inside his suit jacket.

Everyone walked out the backdoor and Sharon locked up as Andy waited for her. He placed his arm around her and she released a shiver. "Nervous?" he asked as they walked to the garage. "Both nervous and excited for Emily," she gave him a smile and he kissed the top of her head. "She'll do fine," he told her.

Andy drove them over to the theater and parked in the parking garage next door. Rusty and Matthew got out of the car and Andy walked around, opening the car door for Sharon. She took his hand and stood up from the car. He leaned in and gave her a quick kiss before they all started to walk towards the entrance of the theater.

As they stepped inside, Sharon was looking for Nicole, Dean, and the boys while Andy checked in the coats for them. Rusty and Matthew were standing to the side, out of the way of the many people who were now walking into the theater.

Andy was just handing the coats over to the attendant when Dean walked up next to him. "Hey Andy," Dean shook his father-in-law's hand as he too handed in Nicole and the boys' jackets to the attendant. "Dean, nice to see you," Andy told him as he looked over his shoulder and saw Nicole talking to Sharon while his grandsons were hanging out by Matthew and Rusty.

The two of them walked over to join their wives and Andy kissed Nicole on her cheek. "Hi sweetie," he told her. "Hey Dad," she smiled and turned to look for the boys. She saw Rusty trying to tell them not to roughhouse each other while they were waiting and chuckled.

Andy stood next to Sharon, holding her hand in his and she continued to speak to Nicole, mainly about their grandsons and what ballet adventures they are getting in to. Andy scanned the room, looking for Jack but he didn't see him.

"Shall we go get our seats?" Dean asked everyone, and they agreed. Andy waved all the boys over to them and they walked into the theater as a family. They were sitting center stage, about 20 rows up from the stage.

Dean went into the aisle first, followed by Nicole and the two boys, Rusty, Matthew, Sharon, and Andy sitting at the end of the aisle. Sharon smiled at Andy and laid her head briefly on his shoulder. She was still excited and nervous for Emily's performance tonight and Andy placed his hand around her shoulder.

They waited and listened to the orchestra perform their warm ups. After they were done, the performance began.

As Sharon watched her daughter on stage, she couldn't help thinking back to the memories of the first time she had watched The Nutcracker with Andy. That brought a smile to her face and she settled into her seat as Emily danced across the stage.

During intermission, Andy and Sharon walked out to the lobby to join everyone else. "I'm going to head to the ladies' room with Nicole, as I'm sure the line is already long," she kissed Andy on his cheek and she left with Nicole.

Andy stood in the lobby with Rusty. He was just scanning the crowed as Dean bought the boys something to drink. Matthew came back to his father holding a small drink and a red twizzler. He smiled at him and his grandsons who were each holding a twizzler as Dean followed them with the small bag.

"I hope you don't mind," Dean said to Andy. "Oh, that's fine," Andy flashed his grin and leaned up against one of the posts. "How long do we have to stand out here?" Matthew asked Andy as he chewed his candy.

"Oh, well, it's about 20 minutes long," he started to say but then someone caught his eye. Jack seemed to be walking towards them and Andy didn't know if he was going to speak to them or pass them to get in line for the concessions.

Jack was walking by himself and didn't see Andy or the rest of them there. Rusty didn't say anything as a crowd had suddenly separated him. Jack was now standing in line for the concessions and Andy kept a close eye on him.

"You know, I don't think Sharon would appreciate you eyeing Jack like that," Rusty teased Andy and Andy gave him a look before sighing. He was hoping Sharon and Nicole would be back soon.

Meanwhile, Sharon and Nicole were just finishing up in the ladies' room when another woman walked up next to Nicole as she was drying her hands and started to look in the mirror. She was tall with blonde hair. Nicole noticed her as she was waiting for Sharon to finish washing her hands and thought that this woman had a lot of work done to look that way.

"Oh, excuse me," the woman said to Nicole in a high-pitched voice and then walked out of the room. Sharon was ready and her and Nicole returned to their family. "Can you believe someone would actually wear that type of dress here?" Nicole said to Sharon as she nodded to the same woman who was walking in front of them.

Sharon took one look and it wasn't her to gossip but the woman was standing out and something about her screamed fake to Sharon.

Andy was still eyeing Jack as he turned around with his two drinks. Andy shook his head a little as he noticed those were alcoholic drinks that Jack was carrying.

Just then, Sharon tucked her arm into Andy's as she walked up next to him. "Hi," she smiled, and Andy returned her smile, hoping that Jack still wasn't coming over to them.

The blonde woman met Jack and threw herself on his side. She took one of the drinks from Jack and sipped it while standing there.

"Who are you staring at?" Sharon asked Andy as she watched him. He didn't have time to answer as the lights started to flicker to indicate it was time to go back to their seats.

Someone accidently bumped into Sharon and she turned around to see Jack and the same blonde woman from before. "Oh, Sharon," Jack said and quickly pulled the blonde to his side.

"Hello Jack," Sharon hummed as she looked him in the eye. "Great performance so far," Jack didn't know what else to say as he looked at Sharon and then glared at Andy.

"Andy," Jack dismissed him quickly and then moved to the side of them. "Well, we better get back to our seats," Jack gestured for the blonde woman to walk in front of him as he held her hand and disappeared back into the crowd.

"He's been drinking," Sharon muttered under her breath, but Andy heard her. He reached for her hand again and they walked into the theater behind Nicole and everyone else. "I saw him order two drinks while you were in the ladies' room with Nic," Andy sighed. She looked at him and he whispered, "I'm sorry."

Sharon shook her head at the thought that Jack was once again drinking and once again had some blonde woman on his side.

Andy leaned over and kissed Sharon, making her forget about the recent encounter they just had. "Come on, the second act is about to start," he told her, and they settled down in their seats again.

Andy held Sharon's hand as they watched the dancers move across the stage. This was her favorite part of the ballet, as it involved the Sugar Plum Fairy. She watched as Emily moved about the stage, going through the sugar plums with her prince. She should be happy, but she was concerned now. Jack was drinking again, which should be nothing new, yet she was disappointed, not for her but for Ricky and Emily.

Andy glanced at Sharon as she watched Emily, he knew this was her favorite part. She told him that the first time they had seen this ballet together. But yet, she seemed distracted to him. He squeezed her hand, hoping to un-distract her, as he had a pretty good idea of what the cause was.

He saw her eyes glistening with tears and he took a deep breath. 'So much for making Jack jealous tonight' he thought to himself as he held Sharon's hand. He leaned in and whispered into her ear. "I love you," his voice led to a tear falling down her face and she wiped it away with her free hand.

Sharon leaned her head on Andy's shoulder as they watched the rest of the ballet. On the final act, Sharon moved her head to watch Emily on her final dance when she wakes up next to the Christmas Tree. The ballet ended, and everyone applauded. All the dancers then came out for the final bow and they all stood up when Emily took center stage.

After the curtain closed, Sharon spoke to Nicole as Andy stood next to her with his hand in the small of her back. Matthew was talking to Colin and Avery and Rusty was on his phone checking a few things.

Andy was glancing around the theater looking for Jack and his date. He wanted to punch him badly but knew that would cause a scene and he would probably end up sleeping on the couch tonight and for the foreseeable future.

He spotted him on the aisle to his left, heading up to the back of the theater. He would pass them up eventually. Andy removed his hand from Sharon's back as she was still chatting with everyone. They were going to wait until the theater cleared out a little more before going to the special meet and greet area reserved for families of the performers.

He assumed Jack and his date were going to leave and not stay for that, or at least, that's what he had hoped.

As Jack came closer to their aisle, he was slowly kissing his date's neck as she was in front of him. Andy eyed that, and he cringed. He turned towards Sharon and placed his arms around her. Luckily, she didn't see Jack as she was facing Nicole and Dean.

The theater started to clear a little and they walked out of the seating area. Matthew, Colin, and Avery were playing tag in the open area of the lobby. "Boys!" Nicole scolded them, and they stopped.

"I'm going to get our coats before we head over," Andy told Sharon and she nodded in agreement.

As Andy handed the two tickets over to the attendant, Jack was right behind him in line. He leaned over Andy's shoulder and spoke. "How'd you like my date tonight?" he asked, and Andy turned around to face him, as he held the two jackets.

He balled his right hand into a fist. He wanted to wipe that smug look on Jack's face right off. He looked him square in the eye and grinned. "I think you're pathetic, Jack," he told him and then walked away towards where he had left Sharon and the group. He showed self-constraint as he walked away, even though he wanted to punch him to the ground.

Jack, on the other hand, took exception to what Andy had said and followed him. He reached out and grabbed Andy's shoulder, making Andy turn around to defend himself, and he was met with a fist punch from Jack.

Jack punched him in the jaw and Andy fought back, punching him square in the face. Jack was knocked back. Andy was going to punch him again but found himself being pulled away by Rusty and saw Dean stepping in and pushing Jack out of the way.

"Andy!" Sharon shouted as he saw Sharon standing in front of him as Nicole tended to the boys, making sure they stayed where they were.

He shrugged Rusty's hold off him and stood there looking towards Jack. Dean told Jack to go away before the police were called.

Jack's date was now next to him and pulled him away. "She's much better than she ever was," Jack grinned as he put his arm around his date. Andy watched him walk away, which made his blood boil even more. He wanted to go after him, but Sharon tugged his arm which made him turn towards her instead.

"Let it go," she said as she tended to his sore jaw. He winced as she touched him. "You're going to put ice on that when we get home," she told him. "Sorry," he frowned, and she shook her head no. "What did you say to him," she looked sadly into his eyes as they both stood there.

"It doesn't matter," Andy whispered as Rusty handed him their jackets that had fallen onto the floor of the lobby. Andy wasn't going to tell her what he said to Jack or what Jack had said to him. Or at least not now as they walked back with Dean and Rusty to where Nicole and the boys were.

"You okay Dad?" Nicole asked him, and he nodded. Nicole handed Sharon the bouquet of flowers and they made their way to the special section of the theater to greet Emily.

Andy's jaw was starting to throb, but he shrugged it off, not wanting to feel like Jack got the better of him. They stood in the special area and waited. "You sure you're okay?" Sharon asked him. "I'm fine," he grumbled but Sharon wouldn't leave him alone to sulk as they waited.

Emily came out and said hello to Colin and Avery first, giving them hugs as she made her way over. "You were absolutely wonderful, Emily," Nicole hugged her. "Thanks," Emily said and saw her Mom coming towards her with a bouquet of flowers.

Andy was next to Sharon as she greeted Emily, hugged her and kissed her cheek. "You were so wonderful up there," Sharon told her. "Thanks Mom," Emily said and looked at Andy. She had a worried look on her face as she noticed the bruise on his jaw.

"Did you get that from a suspect today?" Emily joked as Andy hugged her. "Ah, not exactly a suspect," he muttered but Emily moved on to Rusty.

"You were fantastic!" Rusty told her. "Thanks, Rusty," she hugged him and then she looked around.

"Did Dad come?" she had asked Sharon and she walked closer to her. "He did, he saw your performance tonight," Sharon informed her and flashed back to when she was little asking the same thing. She didn't want to tell Emily that her father was drinking again, let alone he was the one who gave Andy the bruise on his jaw.

Emily shrugged it off, just like all her other performances and smiled again when Colin, Avery, and Matthew bombarded her again with hugs. "Okay, okay!" she laughed as they disentangled themselves from her.

"I need to go change and then I'll be heading home," Emily told the group as she started to walk away.

"Uh, I'll wait for you so you're not driving back by yourself," Rusty offered and Emily accepted. She left and went back to the dressing room area to gather her things.

"We're going to go so that he can get some ice on that," Sharon spoke to Nicole as Andy stood across from them.

"Mom? Can I sleep over tonight?" Matthew asked Sharon as Colin and Avery quickly asked their mom if that was okay.

"Oh, um, well you don't have any change of clothes with us," Sharon said and saw his disappointment.

"If you want, you could take him back home with you and we can follow so that he could pack a bag," Nicole offered.

"Please Mom?" Matthew asked and then Avery and Colin asked her too. Sharon glanced at Andy and he agreed with the sleepover. "Okay," Sharon agreed, and they walked out together.

"I can drive if your jaw still hurts," Sharon offered but Andy waved her off and opened her car door. Matthew climbed in the back seat and Andy got into the driver's side. He waited until Dean was behind him in their mini van before he pulled out and drove home.

The drive home was quiet and after Andy pulled the car into the garage, Matthew got out quickly and headed to the back door of the house. Dean and Nicole pulled up in the driveway behind them and waited for Matthew to grab his bag.

When they entered the house, Matthew went directly upstairs, and Sharon went to the freezer to get Andy some ice for his jaw. Andy had a seat at the kitchen table and Moxie put his head on Andy's lap.

"Hey buddy," he mumbled, petting Moxie as Sharon brought over the ice pack wrapped in a small kitchen towel.

He winced as she placed the ice pack on his jaw. "Sorry," she whispered and watched him.

Matthew came running down the stairs holding his pillow and a duffle bag. "Hey, let me check and make sure you have the essentials before you leave," Sharon told him, and he stopped and handed her his bag.

"Sorry you got punched tonight," Matthew told Andy as he waited. "It's okay, doesn't hurt that much but your mom worries so," he winked at Matthew and the boy smiled.

"Okay, you're all set. I'll walk with you out to their car," Sharon handed the bag back to Matthew and touched Andy's shoulder, letting him know she'll be right back.

"Bye Dad!" Matthew waved as he walked out of the house. Sharon walked with him and he got into the side door of the minivan. "Thank you for doing this," Sharon said to Nicole. "Oh, it's not a problem. We can drop him off later tomorrow afternoon if you want," she suggested. "Text or call tomorrow and we'll discuss," Sharon smiled and waved as Dean backed the minivan down their driveway.

Sharon sighed as she returned to the house and locked the door behind her. She made her way into the kitchen and saw that Andy was still sitting there with the ice pack on his jaw.

"So, do you want to tell me now what Jack said to you?" she asked him, sitting in the chair across from him and Andy looked at her.

TBC


	17. Chapter 17

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 17

Andy sat at the kitchen table and released his hold on the ice pack. Sharon wanted to know what Jack had said to him or that he had said to Jack that prompted the punches being thrown after Emily's performance.

He placed the ice pack on the table and leaned back in his chair. Sharon looked at him, knowing he probably didn't want to say anything more about the fight. That's how he usually was. She thought he might need some encouragement, so she grabbed his hand and held it, gently rubbing her thumb on top of his knuckles.

Andy chuckled as Sharon did that gesture and took a deep breath. Clearing his throat, he began to tell Sharon what happened.

"I was waiting in line to pick up our coats and he tapped me on my shoulder, asking me what I thought of his date tonight," he said as he looked at her. Sharon sighed as she listened to him. "So, I told him I thought he was pathetic and walked away, back towards you," he finished.

"He's lucky that that's all it was, just a punch, because," Andy continued and shook his head, looking at the table. "Don't say anything more," Sharon said, sounding disappointed about the whole situation.

"I saw how disappointed you looked, after we saw him in the lobby going back to our seats," Andy told her. "I was disappointed for my children, not for me, Andy," she whispered that part and ran her fingers through his left hand.

"Jack stopped disappointing me a long time ago," she thought she would add that part to make it clear to Andy about how she felt. "He was making a fool of himself draping his arms all over that woman he was with!" Andy stated and then he almost wished he hadn't said that.

"Andrew Flynn, it sounds like you were the one who was jealous tonight!" Sharon exclaimed and stood up, walking away from him and headed upstairs.

"What?! No, of course not!" he cried out for her to hear but she was already on the stairs going up.

"Dammit," Andy whispered under his breath and closed his eyes. His jaw was starting to hurt him now. He stood up and placed the ice pack back in the freezer. He looked at Moxie, patted him quickly on his head.

He then followed her upstairs, knowing that he needed to apologize. He wasn't jealous at all, of the woman or of Jack. He hated Jack with a passion for all the things he had put Sharon through when she was married to him. How Jack had left her and the kids repeatedly.

Andy bounded up the stairs, surprisingly finding the door to their bedroom locked. He knocked on the door. "Sharon?" he said and knocked again when he was met with silence. "Come on Sharon, unlock the door!" he pleaded with her through the closed door.

He leaned his head against the door, wondering what he was going to do next when he heard movement from inside the room and a quiet click, indicating that the door was now unlocked. He gave it a few seconds before entering the bedroom.

He knew she was in there because the lights were on inside. He slowly walked inside the room and found Sharon in the closet, removing her dress.

He stood there, watching her as she paused, knowing that he was now in the same room as her. "I'm sorry," she heard him say to her. She closed her eyes and stopped undressing herself. She didn't know what to do at that moment.

A part of her wanted to turn around and wrap her arms around him, keeping him close to her. But another part of her wanted to punish him. Or, maybe she was just over-reacting to the whole situation?

As he stood there, he reached his hand and placed it on her shoulder, feeling her bare skin. Her breath hitched as he did that, and she turned around to face him. Tears were in her eyes as she looked at him.

"I'm sorry," he whispered again to her and she closed her eyes, leaning her head forward on his shirt. He enveloped his arms around her and held her tightly to him.

"I couldn't stand that he was still hurting you, even though you moved on to a more handsome and better caring husband than he ever was to you," Andy muttered into her hair as he held her. She chuckled into his chest and Andy didn't mind if she was laughing at him for saying those things.

He smiled and kissed the top of her head as he continued to hold her. She backed away a little to look up at him and caressed his face. "How's your jaw?" she asked, in a raspy voice. "It'll be fine," he assured her, and she sighed, leaning her head back down to his chest.

He glanced at his watch which told him that it was approaching 11 o'clock. "Since we can sleep in tomorrow morning, why don't I fix you a nice bubble bath, so you can relax a little?" Andy suggested as he bent his head down to kiss her forehead.

Sharon moaned as he did that and then initiated a long, sensual kiss. As she raised her hands to his face to hold him, her dress started to slip further down her body, leaving her in her black lace bra and matching panties. After breaking their kiss, Sharon looked him in his eyes. "Although that is tempting, I think I would just rather go to bed," she caressed his face carefully.

"I'm sorry I thought you were jealous earlier," she said, wanting to clear the air, even though it was pretty much taken care of. "It's okay, Sharon," he told her as he ran his finger down her arm. "God, you're gorgeous," he whispered as he fully took in her beauty.

Before they could go any further, they both heard the back door open and shut. "Emily must be home now," she whispered to him and he nodded. "Here, slip this on and I'll go downstairs to make sure everything is okay," he handed her robe to her and she slipped it over her body.

"I'll be right back," he winked at her. "I'll be waiting," she smiled as she sat down on their bed.

Andy exited their bedroom and willed himself to calm down, so that by the time he got to see Emily, there wasn't evidence of his arousal.

As he made his way to the kitchen, he saw Emily standing by the island, making herself a snack. "Hey, everything good?" he asked, not wanting to pry as he glanced at his watch again.

"Hey Andy, yep, everything is good. Rusty told me how you got your bruise on your chin tonight," Emily said. "He did what?!" Andy asked not wanting her to know the truth about what Jack had done.

"You don't need to protect me from my father, Andy," she said bluntly, as she moved around the kitchen. "I can't believe he just sucker punched you in the jaw," she shook her head. Andy shook his head and sighed.

"Rusty also told me he was drinking again," Emily added. "Geeze Rusty," Andy mumbled and leaned up against the counter. "I made him tell me," Emily clarified. "Look, I'm used to him disappointing Mom, Ricky, and myself, so don't worry about that," Emily told him.

She was done eating and placed the plate in the sink. "I'm heading to bed. I need to be at the theater by 12:30 tomorrow afternoon," Emily told Andy and he waved. "Good night," he said to her and then went to make sure all the doors were locked.

He walked into the family room and saw Moxie was sleeping on his bed in there. He decided to leave the dog where he was and went back upstairs.

He walked into their bedroom and Sharon was still sitting where he had left her. He closed the door behind him. "Did you see Emily?" he asked her, and she nodded. "Yes, she told me that she made Rusty tell her what had happened," she said as she stood up and started to undo the buttons on his dress shirt.

"I don't want to talk about that anymore," she whispered as she ran her hands underneath his shirt and he kissed her. They quickly made their way to their bed and he gently laid her down.

She went to task, unbuckling his belt from his suit pants and he undid her robe. She helped him remove his pants and he lavished her body with kisses.

The next morning, Sharon woke up on her stomach and saw that the sunlight was starting to make its way into their bedroom. The sheets were bunched up around her waist as she raised her head to look at Andy.

He was fast asleep next to her, laying on his back with his right hand over his head and his left one sprawled along his chest. The same sheets were bunched around his waist too and Sharon smiled.

She turned herself, so she was now laying on her side and watched Andy. She could still make out the bruise on his jaw, despite only the morning sun rays creeping into the room and saw that it had turned itself into a dark purple color.

She laid her head back on the pillow and sighed as she pulled up the sheet to cover her body. This motion woke Andy up from his sleep and he turned his body towards Sharon. He opened his eyes and saw that she was awake.

"How long have you been awake?" he mumbled as he reached for her body. "Just a couple of minutes," she told him, and he pulled her body towards his.

"You're cold," he mumbled and kissed her right shoulder. She snuggled into his side and he wrapped his arm around her, trying his best to warm her up. They laid together for another half hour before Sharon spoke.

"What are you doing today?" she asked him, wondering if he had made plans. He kissed her ear. "Well, I was thinking about doing some Christmas shopping this morning," he cleared his throat. Sharon hummed into his shoulder.

"You wouldn't be shopping for my gift, would you?" she teased him. "Uh, well," he chuckled as he held her close to him. They laid like that for a couple of minutes.

"No plans with Provenza?" she asked. "No, he is spending the weekend with Patrice somewhere," he told her as he shifted around in bed. She was now looking at his face. He leaned in and kissed her lips.

"How about I go downstairs and make you breakfast?" he suggested, and she bit her bottom lip and smiled. He flashed her his grin and got off the bed. He put his boxer shorts on and then threw on a pair of jeans.

Sharon kept watching him as he quickly got semi-dressed before leaving their room. She rolled on her back and thought about the past couple of days. With the recent closing of their case, and dealing with Jack, and Croelick showing up on the street yesterday, she sighed as she thought about all that seemed to be going on.

"Don't forget Hollywood Division and that car," she whispered to herself and shook her head as she slipped out of bed. She wrapped her robe around her body and made her way to the bathroom.

Andy was downstairs, cooking breakfast at the stove and Moxie was sitting next to him, watching the whole time. He would get up and move when Andy moved from the stove, to the countertop, to the fridge, and back.

As he was grilling the homemade French toast, he felt two hands wrapping around his midsection. He was surprised to find Sharon standing behind him. "Hmm, I love your French toast," she smiled as she stood by his side.

"Now I know why I didn't hear you come down," he pointed to her bare feet as he continued to cook the toast. "That's because my slippers are down here," she ran her hand down his back and moved to the mud room and slipped on her Ugg slippers.

Walking back out to the kitchen she went to the cabinet and pulled out some plates. Setting the table, she walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out the container of blueberries and strawberries. She washed them and placed the fruit on a paper towel and then transferred them to a bowl.

"The toast is ready," he smiled as he placed them all on a plate and brought them over to the table. Sharon joined him with the bowl of fruit and they sat down to enjoy their breakfast together.

"How are you doing?" Sharon asked as they ate. Andy gave her a questionable look as he took a bite of the strawberry that was on his plate.

"Does your jaw hurt you?" she asked. "A little bit, nothing to complain about," Andy shrugged his shoulders.

Before they could continue their conversation, the doorbell rang, and Moxie started to bark as he ran over to the front door. "Should we be expecting anyone?" Andy asked as he stood up. "Not that I know of," Sharon shook her head and they both went to the door.

Sharon peeked through the side curtain and saw Jack standing on the doorstep. "It's Jack," she huffed and frowned at the same time.

Andy saw red and opened the door. "Come to finish what you started last night Jack?" Andy stood there with his arms crossed as he stared at Jack. "I actually came over to apologize to Emily," Jack stared back at him.

"What do you want Jack?" Sharon moved into view now and Jack eyed her up and down. "Wow Sharon, I hope I wasn't interrupting anything," Jack grinned, and this time Andy moved him down one step.

Jack held up his hands. "I'm not here to fight Andy, just wanted to see Emily," he told him.

Before Andy could say another word, Emily came down and peeked her head out the door.

"Dad, what are you doing here?" Emily asked him as she pulled her robe tighter around her pajamas.

"Good morning sweetheart, I just wanted to apologize for not sticking around last night to see you after your performance," Jack stood there, watching his daughter. She stepped outside to join her father.

"It's okay Andy, I'm fine," she nodded to her step-father and Andy walked back inside the house, after glaring at Jack.

Sharon closed the door behind them, leaving Emily to talk to her father in privacy. Sharon took a hold of Andy's hand and led him back to the kitchen. "Come on, the food is going to get cold," she said, and he reluctantly went with her.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled as he sat back down on his chair and swirled a piece of French toast around in some syrup.

Sharon looked over at him and gave a slight chuckle. "What are you sorry about?" she asked. "That Jack ruined another breakfast, or nice moment, or something special?" she added and then Andy got it. Why did he keep apologizing to Sharon?

"Because I wanted to punch Jack as soon as I saw him on our doorstep," he muttered, and she placed her hand on top of his on the table. "You know, violence isn't always the best option," she told him.

"There are other ways to get back at Jack, from what I have learned over the years," Sharon intertwined her fingers with his now. "Yeah, like what?" Andy muttered as he glared over her shoulder at the front door.

"Well, for starters, just being there for Emily and Ricky, and supporting them on their endeavors. That's something that, for whatever reason, Jack never tried to do when they were growing up," she stated, sadly. "He always said he would be there, but then didn't show up," she added and looked towards the kitchen floor.

Andy squeezed her hand to get her to look at him. "I wish I could take away all the pain that he had caused you," he whispered, and she took a deep breath. "You are," she smiled softly at him.

TBC


	18. Chapter 18

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 18

Andy found himself waiting at the coffee shop in the mall while Sharon went to another store. He had taken that opportunity to go back to the jewelry store where he saw a green emerald necklace that was simple and tasteful. He decided to buy it for Sharon and had the store gift wrap it for him in light blue paper.

As he sat there, waiting for Sharon to return, he thought about what else could he get her. He wanted to get her something that stood out and was unique. Sure, he could shower her with jewelry every time but wanted to think outside the box. What did Sharon really like to do?

His thoughts were interrupted by Sharon coming back to join him. She had an armful of shopping bags and she sat down on the chair across from him. "So, looks like you were successful," he chuckled as he eyed all the bags from a variety of stores.

"Yes, well, I still needed to shop for Ricky, and I got our grandchildren their presents as well," she smiled and eyed the little bag that Andy had by his cup of coffee. She grinned and leaned forward. "Is that my present?" she asked as she turned her head to peak inside.

"Maybe, but you're going to have to wait till Christmas my dear," he told her and moved the bag to the floor in between his feet. She grinned a smile at him as she played with his hand on the table.

One of the coffee shop workers came over to their table and asked Sharon if she wanted anything to drink. "Yes, I'll have a hot raspberry tea please, ah to go, thank you" she told them, and they left.

They left after a short while and Andy held some of the packages that Sharon had purchased along with the one bag that he had from the jewelry store. They made their way to the car and placed the packages inside. Once the back door was closed, Andy smiled and looked at Sharon.

"So, what do you want to do?" he asked her as she sipped her tea. "Well, it's still early, and Nicole is going to drop Matthew off at home around 4ish, so," Sharon told him, trailing off at the end.

"Why don't we drop off the packages at home and then head out for lunch?" he suggested, and she agreed, getting into the passenger side of the car. Andy drove them home.

As Andy turned down their street, they both noticed police cars at the end of the block by the Henderson's house. "Could Hollywood be done with their investigation already?" Andy wondered as he pulled the car into their driveway.

"I was told to stay away from their investigation," Sharon shook her head as Andy put the car in park and turned off the ignition.

"Well, Mason may have told you not to but in, however, he didn't tell the rest of your squad. It would be a dereliction of duty for your third in command not to inquire as to what is going on right down the street from where the Commander resides," he said with a straight face.

She turned her attention to him, looking him in his eyes. "Please don't get yourself in trouble," she pleaded with him. He gave her a wink and got out of the car.

Sharon closed her eyes and shook her head slightly. She got out of the car and retrieved the shopping bags, but she left the one bag that Andy had purchased in the car. He wanted to surprise her and even though she was curious, she didn't peak in the bag.

Andy made his way down the driveway and over to where the Henderson's house was. He saw patrol officers outside the house and a couple of unmarked squad cars. As he approached the scene, he came upon a patrol officer, flashing his badge to him, he allowed Andy to continue.

He saw someone he knew from Narcotics and he wondered why they were there.

"Hey Dwayne," Andy shook the detective's hand. "Andy, been a while," Dwayne said as he stood at the scene. "You live around here?" he asked Andy. "Just up the block," he pointed down the street and turned to the detective.

"So, why is Narcotics here?" Andy asked him. "Ah, one of the kids that lives here with their parents was apparently running an ecstasy ring out of the basement," Dwayne informed him, and Andy was shocked.

"Seriously?" Andy's eyes went wide as he stood there. "Yeh, the parents didn't know it either. We're just here collecting evidence as the kid's been arrested already," Dwayne continued.

"Hey, so what's up with you? Nice bruise by the way, one too many fights lately?" Dwayne joked, and Andy nodded. "Yeh, something like that," he said as he touched his chin.

"Oh, by the way, I heard you had gotten married to no other than Darth Raydor," Dwayne laughed, and Andy smiled.

"Who would of thought that, right?" Dwayne patted Andy on his back. "Yeh," Andy muttered as more detectives and evidence technicians came out of the house carrying boxes.

"Well, it's been nice catching up with you Dwayne, maybe I'll see you around later," Andy took the other detectives as a que for him to retreat home. "Sure, Andy don't be a stranger," Dwayne shook his hand again and Andy left.

Andy walked back up the driveway and checked the car to make sure all the shopping bags were inside. He saw his shopping bag from the jewelry store still inside the car and he retrieved it. Closing the garage door, he made his way to the back door and into the house.

The kitchen was empty as he wondered where Sharon had gone. He decided to hide his present for her in the den and as he was putting it away, he heard Moxie bounding down the stairs. He quickly closed the drawer to the cabinet and turned around.

Sharon was making her way down the stairs and she smiled at him as he was leaning up against the door frame to the den. "What did you do?" she asked him as she looked at his grin. "Why do you think I did something?" he stood there, not helping himself as he chuckled.

She stepped over to him and peered inside the den. "Well, you're back in one piece and I haven't received a phone call yet from Chief Mason," she told him and he laughed some more.

"Speaking of that, I ran into my friend from Narcotics down the street. You know Dwayne," he started to inform her as they stood there. She nodded as he continued. "The kid that we met down there, the one who's car blew up, well, turns out he's been running ecstasy out of the basement, parents didn't even know that," he shrugged his shoulders.

Sharon had a shocked look on her face as she listened to what Andy just told her. "Wait a minute, that kid down there was selling ecstasy out of their house, and you saw that car at Matthew's school a couple of days ago?" her tone had changed.

"Yeah," Andy muttered and grabbed a hold of Sharon's hand before she went into complete protective mother mode. "Hey, I know you want to go alert the school and rifle through Matthew's backpack making sure there's nothing inside it but just calm down here," as he tried to comfort her.

"We don't even know for sure if he was a supplier or the dealer or whatever yet, okay?" he soothed her worries. She nodded, clearing her throat. "So what else did your friend tell you?" she asked him as he led her into the kitchen.

"Not much else," he shook his head as she took a seat at the table. "Narcotics is now in charge of the case, I'm assuming so we don't have to worry about those idiots down at Hollywood messing this up," Andy continued as Sharon sat there.

He grabbed his car keys from the kitchen countertop and walked over to Sharon. "Come on, I know a nice place we can go to for a late lunch and then we can swing by Nicole's house instead and pick Matthew up," he offered her his hand and she sighed, grabbing a hold of it and standing up.

"I guess it's just shocking to hear something like that happening close to home," she stood there before Andy enveloped her body in a hug.

"We'll ask Matthew if he saw anything weird like that at school, I'm sure the principal knows about it, and we will also tell Nicole and Dean so that she's aware for the boys," she stated as they closed the back door and locked it. Andy nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile, at the theater, Emily arrived and was in her dressing room when one of the assistants knocked on her door. "Come in," Emily said as she turned to the door.

The assistant walked in carrying a bouquet of roses. "This was just delivered for you," the assistant smiled and placed the vase of flowers down on the small table inside the room.

"I wonder who this is from?" Emily reached for the note attached to the vase. She began to read it.

"I saw you in last night's performance, may I say exquisite. You are just as wonderful as you were in New York," Emily read out loud and placed the small card down on the table.

"Who's it from?" the assistant asked her but Emily just shrugged her shoulders. "It's not signed," she commented. Emily thought that was odd but it was just flowers and obviously someone liked her performance last night. She went about getting herself ready.

Andy and Sharon arrived at the small restaurant along the ocean. Sharon smiled as she took a look around, remembering the first time when Andy took her to this place.

"I know it's been a little hectic the last few months, and I promised you we would come out here more often than we have. I figured we had the opportunity to come back and visit today," he shrugged his shoulders as they walked hand in hand into the restaurant.

"Oh Andy, it's perfect," she said and watched Andy give the girl at the greeter's stand his name. She wondered if he had planned taking her here because he turned around and they were led to a table and chairs overlooking the beach and ocean.

As they sat down, Sharon gave Andy a inquisitive look. Andy looked at her innocently. "What?" he asked her. "What are you planning?" she asked him, skeptical of how quick and easy it was to get a table here when the place was fairly full with patrons.

"Do I have to be planning something, or could it be possible that we just happened to come here at the right time when they had an opening," Andy smirked and Sharon shook her head slightly as she gazed over the menu she was holding.

"Besides, how could I have gotten a reservation so quickly here if I didn't even know what we were doing today?" Andy asked as he casually looked over his menu and he let Sharon think about what he had just said.

Sharon had fallen in love with this restaurant the first time Andy had taken her here, after a long and tough case that they had closed. When that night was over, he had promised that he would take her here again, but then Stroh escaped and Sharon's attention went towards keeping Rusty safe.

The second time Andy took Sharon here was the day after Provenza's marriage to Patrice. They had the day off and he wanted to surprise her so he had decided to take her to the beach. They had walked along the beach after spending some time dipping their feet in the water and sitting along the rocks. He had led her towards the restaurant and she grinned when she saw where they were. That night, after he took her back to his place, he promised her again that anytime she wanted to go back to that restaurant he would take her.

Sharon sat there remembering the past and she didn't notice the waiter had arrived at their table. She was too busy looking out the window. It wasn't until Andy rubbed her hand gently did she notice that the waiter was standing waiting to take their drink orders.

"Oh, sorry, I'll have an iced tea, please," she told them and the waiter left with their drink orders. "Something's got your attention since we've been here," Andy suggested, wanting to know what had Sharon distracted so much since they sat down at the table.

"I was just thinking that's all," Sharon smiled. "Oh, about what?" Andy encouraged her with his grin and held her hand. Sharon hummed and leaned forward in her chair.

"About the first time you took me here," she smiled. "I remember that, it was before your kids came in to town for Christmas in 2014," he remembered. "I wanted you to relax after that one case we had, and you had mentioned about wanting to go to the beach and watch the ocean," he continued.

The waiter interrupted their memories when he brought their drinks to the table. An iced tea for Sharon and a water for Andy. "Are you ready to order or do you need a few more minutes?" the waiter asked them.

"I'm ready," Sharon said, as Andy looked over the menu one more time before ordering. They placed their orders and the waiter left them to reminisce again.

"The second time was after Provenza's marriage to Patrice, why did we wait so long to come back here then?" she asked him. "We got busy after Christmas that year, Stroh escaped, and your focus was on keeping Rusty safe," he quietly told her.

"The last time we were here, we discussed moving in together," she smiled at that memory and Andy chuckled. "Yes, I was more nervous then, than I was proposing to you after I had gotten out of the hospital," Andy smiled.

Sharon smiled and then seemed sad to Andy. "I've been meaning to take you back here since then, it's just we got busy, you know, and since Nicole and Dean were nice enough to have Matthew sleep over I thought this was the perfect place for lunch, if we weren't doing anything else," he shrugged his shoulders and gave her his sheepish grin.

"I love you and thank you for taking me back here," she smiled as their food arrived.

TBC


	19. Chapter 19

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own these characters, except for Matthew and Moxie. The rest of them belong to James Duff and the Major Crimes franchise.

Chapter 19

Sharon and Andy pulled up into the driveway of Nicole and Dean's house. Andy parked the car and they both got out. Sharon rang the door bell and Dean answered the door.

"Hey Sharon, Andy, come on in," Dean gestured at them and moved out of the doorway. Sharon stepped into the house, seeing all the Christmas decorations that were on display.

"Matthew's upstairs with the boys playing in their room. Can I get you anything to drink?" Dean asked them as they made their way into the living room.

"Ah, no I'm good, sweetie?" Sharon stated and turned to Andy. "I'm fine Dean, thanks," Andy told him and Nicole came in from the kitchen to greet them.

"Hi Sharon, Dad," Nicole greeted them as they sat down. "Hey Nicole," Sharon and Andy both said in unison. "How's your jaw Dad?" Nicole asked Andy. "Oh, it's nothing. Doesn't hurt now," Andy shook that off.

"Um, Nicole, your father and I would like to discuss something with you and Dean," Sharon started to say. Nicole shifted in her seat. "That sounds serious," Nicole gave a little chuckle as she looked between her father and Sharon.

"It may be nothing but we just wanted to let the both of you know since all the boys go to the same school," Sharon informed them. "Apparently, one of the neighbor kids down the block was arrested this morning for running an ecstasy ring out of his parent's basement, and your father saw this kid's car at the school the other day," Sharon continued.

"Really?" Nicole asked more for shock than anything else. "Yeah, Nicole, so we just wanted to make sure you both were aware in case the boys mention something to you," Andy answered.

"Oh, well, I haven't heard anything from the boys about that have you Dean?" Nicole asked and turned to face Dean. "No, I haven't either," Dean answered as he heard the boys running down the stairs.

"Mom, Dad!" Matthew said and walked to where they were sitting on the couch. "Hey, did you have a good time last night and today?" Sharon asked him and he nodded. "My stuff is already down here," Matthew pointed to the hallway where his bag was located.

"Okay sweetie, we'll get going in a little bit, I just want to talk to Nicole and Dean about something," Sharon told him.

"Come on Matthew, let's go play with the X-box!" Colin stated and started to go into the family room. Avery and Matthew followed him into the room.

Andy was shaking his head at his grandsons and turned his attention back to everyone else.

"Sharon, I don't think the boys would be involved in anything like that and I would hope they would certainly tell us if they saw anything like that at school or anywhere else," Nicole said and Sharon nodded in agreement.

"Have you looked through Matthew's backpack yet?" she whispered to her and Sharon shook her head no. "No, not yet," Sharon said and turned to look at Andy.

Andy and Dean were looking over something across the room.

"Your father thought I would over-react after he told me, and thought it was better to distract me and take me out to lunch instead," Sharon said and Nicole shook her head this time.

"Why is it that they think we will over-react to something involving our kids?" Nicole stated as she looked at her husband and her father.

"Oh, because we do, however, they do as well," Sharon placed her hand on Nicole's hand. "Oh, that is so true! Dean is the worst when it comes to the boys getting injured in the sports activities," Nicole chuckled.

"What are you two chuckling about?" Dean walked back towards them as Andy stood behind Sharon. "Nothing," Nicole stated as she looked at Sharon. Andy placed his hands-on Sharon's shoulders.

"Are you ready to go?" she looked up at him and he leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "Only if you are," he whispered to her.

Sharon stood up from the couch and Andy went into the family room to tell Matthew it was time to go home.

"Thank you again for having Matthew sleep over and spend the day here," Sharon told both Nicole and Dean. "Oh, you're welcome, it wasn't a problem," Nicole said as Matthew came over carrying his bag.

"Bye!" Matthew said as the three of them left the house and headed towards the car. Matthew climbed in the backseat and settled in. Andy started the car and looked to make sure Sharon was ready before he took the car out of park and started to drive.

Sharon took this opportunity on the drive home to ask Matthew if he had seen anything unusual at school. "Matthew, have you seen anything at school these last couple of weeks that was bad?" she asked him.

Matthew was looking out the window when she was talking to him. "Like what kind of bad?" he asked her. Sharon glanced at Andy as he drove. "Uh, well why don't you tell us what you've seen," she stated, hoping that would encourage Matthew.

"Okay, well there's this letter that was going around class, some boys were teasing another boy, Dad knows about it," he told her and she looked at Andy. "Really?" she said. Andy shook his head. "Did you see this letter by any chance?" Sharon asked Matthew.

"No, and like I told Dad, the kids don't tease me because they all know you are police officers," Matthew told her.

"Anything else you've seen?" she asked. "Um, not really," Matthew shrugged his shoulders.

They were home now and Matthew got out of the car, grabbing his bag and headed for the back door of the house with Sharon while Andy walked down the driveway and picked up the mail from the mailbox.

When he got into the house, Matthew was sitting at the kitchen table going over something for school and Sharon was sitting with him. Andy placed the mail on the island countertop and made his way over to the two.

"Matthew, sweetie, there's something else we'd like to discuss with you," Sharon informed Matthew and he put down his pencil and listened to them.

"Honey you know that certain drugs are bad for you, right?" Sharon started and Matthew nodded his head. She wanted to be careful approaching this subject because of Matthew's birth mom being involved in narcotics when he was little.

"There was an older kid at your school the other day, I guess he was picking up his brother when I went to pick you up," Andy started and paused for a moment. "The older kid was arrested this morning for being involved in drugs," he added as he looked at Matthew.

"Did you arrest him?" Matthew asked. "No, sweetie, your father and I did not arrest him but he was arrested by other police officers," Sharon answered. "We just want to know if you saw anyone giving out pills to other kids at school," she stated.

"No, I didn't see anything like that," Matthew stated and then went back to his homework. Both Sharon and Andy believed him and left it at that.

"What are we going to have for dinner?" he asked them. "Hmm, are you hungry now?" Sharon asked. "No," Matthew replied. "Well, I was thinking we could eat a little later, what would you like to have?" she asked him.

"Nicole made homemade chili for lunch today, it was good," Matthew stated as he worked on his math problems. "Um, a hamburger," he said. "Let's see if we have burgers," Andy opened up the freezer and took a look inside.

"We do have burgers," he pulled out the box and set two out to defrost. He pulled out another box and took a turkey burger to defrost as well.

Later on, that night, Sharon was putting Matthew to bed and kissed him good night. She closed his bedroom door and walked back downstairs to the den. She sat down at her desk and started going over some numbers for her team's budget for next year.

Chief Mason wanted those numbers in by Monday when they met again so that he could send them up to the budget committee of the LAPD by the end of the week. Andy came walking in a half hour later and stood behind her.

He started to rub her shoulders. "What are you going over?" he leaned down and whispered into her ear. She smiled and relished in his handy work on her shoulders.

"The budget for next year," she said and stopped typing on her laptop computer. "What have you been up to?" she asked him.

"Oh, well I may have been in the other room looking up some things on my laptop. Since I saw you in here earlier I didn't want to bother you if we were both in here on our computers," he told her.

She turned around and looked up at him. She noticed that his bruise was turning a darker shade of purple from earlier.

"I'm sorry Jack hit you last night," she whispered and reached up to caress his cheek. "I thought we were both gonna stop apologizing for that," Andy grabbed her hand and brought it down to her lap.

"Does it still hurt you?" she asked wondering why Andy would deflect her touch.

"A little yes," he confessed. "Why don't you take something for it? There's Advil in the cabinet," she told him. He shook his head. "I don't need to take anything for it," he muttered. "Oh, you're so stubborn sometimes," she told him.

Emily came home late after her performance was over. It was around the same time she got home last night and was surprised to see both her mother and step-father in the family room watching TV.

"Hey, how did tonight's performance go?" Sharon sat up a little when Emily entered the room and sat down on one of the big chairs. "Oh, it went well," she said. "I brought home a vase with some flowers in it that I got delivered to me at the theater. You wouldn't by any chance have sent them, did you?" she asked her mom.

"No, sweetie, I didn't send you any flowers and Andy didn't either," she glanced at Andy who had drifted off to sleep. Emily looked at her and sighed. "Then I don't know who they're from, and I don't think Dad sent them either," she sighed again.

"Did a card come with the flowers?" Sharon asked as she sat up a little straighter. "Yes, but it's not signed," Emily stood up and went to get the card from the flowers that were now in the kitchen.

She handed the card to her mother and she read it. "Hmm, well whoever sent the flowers saw your performances in New York. I don't know sweetie, maybe one of your brothers sent them to you," Sharon concluded.

"Or I have a secret admirer," Emily stated. "I mean I used to get flowers sent to me when I was in New York from people I never had met. They liked the performance and showed some gratitude with flowers, maybe this is the same thing?" she added.

Sharon didn't like to think that her daughter would get flowers sent to her by total strangers but she figured that's part of being in the dancing industry. "Hmm, well if you receive more flowers from the same person, I would like to know about it," Sharon told her.

"Oh Mom, don't be over-protective on me," Emily chuckled and returned the card to the flowers in the kitchen. "I'm not," Sharon mumbled to herself when Emily left the room.

"I'm headed to bed," Emily called out as she walked to the stairs and headed up. "Good night!" Sharon called to her daughter and turned to face Andy.

She nudged him in his shoulder until he woke up. "Let's go to bed, Emily is home now," she told him and stood up from the couch. It took Andy a few seconds before he stood up himself.

"What about Rusty?" he asked her as he picked up his phone and waited for her on the other side of the couch. "He came home an hour ago, texted me that he was home and going to bed," she told him and they both walked upstairs together.

As Andy was getting himself ready for bed, Sharon was also in the bathroom with him, getting herself ready. "When Emily came home she told me she received flowers from an anonymous sender. The note said something about her performance was great just like New York," she told him as he brushed his teeth.

Andy stopped and looked at Sharon in the mirror. "Did you see this card?" he asked her after he spat out the toothpaste from his mouth. "Yes, she showed it to me. It could be innocent enough?" Sharon told him.

"Hmm," he wiped his mouth with a towel. "We could run fingerprints on the card, see what comes up?" he suggested as they walked out of the bathroom. "Now who's the one over-reacting?" she teased him.

"Alright, alright, yes, I see your point," he said as he waited for Sharon to get into bed before climbing in next to her.

She settled in his arms and turned her body so that she was facing him. "So, does she want to do anything about it?" he asked her.

"I'm not sure," she sighed and placed her hand on his chest. "She didn't seem to be too alarmed by it," she told him and he kissed her head.

"I don't like it," he mumbled as he held her in bed. "I know honey," she turned her head and looked at him, giving him a soft smile.

"Good night," they both whispered to each other. Sharon settled in his arms and drifted off to sleep. Andy held her but his mind was pulling in all sorts of directions.

'What if this person is a creep and is stalking Emily?' he thought as he lay there, holding Sharon. He didn't think he said that out loud.

"Let's not jump to conclusions just yet," Sharon muttered in her sleep. "I'm trying not to, but this damn job brings the worst possible scenarios out," Andy sighed and felt Sharon shift in his arms.

She sat up and watched him lay there underneath her. "What?" he asked, caressing her arm with his right hand. She smiled at him and laid her head down on his shoulder. He held her close to him and they both drifted off to sleep.

A few hours later, Andy's phone rang which startled the quietness of their bedroom. He groaned as he reached over to the nightstand where it was located. Sharon moved so he could easily get it. He groaned again when he saw the name on his phone.

"I thought you're away with Patrice?" he answered the phone as Sharon sat there still watching him. Were they getting called out or was this a social call at midnight?

"I was, I also thought we were not on call this weekend but apparently the Pope had other ideas!" Provenza barked at him through the phone. Andy could hear his frustration over the phone.

"Where and what are we getting called out for?" Andy looked at Sharon and she started to get out of bed.

She started to gather some clothes: jeans, a nice shirt, and a cardigan sweater by the time Andy was off the phone.

Andy walked over to where Sharon was and took one look at her and smiled. "Is it a casual dress call out?" he asked.

"If we are getting called out on a Sunday morning, then yes, I am wearing casual and so should you," she sighed and brushed past him as she made her way to the bathroom to get dressed.

Andy shook his head as he picked out something to wear. "Pope," he mumbled as he found a pair of jeans and a nice button-down shirt.

After Sharon got ready, she walked over to Emily's room and knocked quickly on her door. She opened it slightly and was surprised to see Emily was still up.

"Mom, what's going on?" Emily asked as she took her headphones off of her ears. Sharon could see she was watching something on Netflix on her iPad.

"We just got called out, even though we are not on call, so I'm hoping you could watch Matthew and we can make arraignments if this call out goes longer when you leave for the theater," Sharon asked.

Emily smiled. "Sure Mom, I got this," she told her. "Thank you," Sharon smiled and then returned to the hallway.

Andy walked out of their room and started to head towards the stairs when he heard Sharon walking out of Emily's room. He waited for her. She softly opened the door to Matthew's room just to check on him and saw that he was still sleeping.

"Everything good?" he asked as she joined him on the stairs. "Yes," she whispered as they descended the stairs to the first floor. "So, what do we have?" she asked him, wondering why they were being called out when they weren't on call.

"Provenza gave me the address, he mumbled something about the Pope not caring if we have a weekend off, and then started talking about his time with Patrice," Andy said and Sharon smiled as they made their way into the kitchen.

"Do you want coffee now?" he asked her as he made his way towards the counter. "Yes, please," she hummed and then went to grab two to-go mugs from the cabinet above the sink.

Sharon's phone rang and she pulled it out of her pocket. Seeing that it was Chief Mason calling. "Chief, how can I help you?" she answered her phone.

To Be Continued in Christmas Fire Part 2


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